Ijtihad versus Jihad: Thoughts on the proposed building of a mosque near Ground Zero

Let me be clear from the off-set, this is an outsider’s article. I am not a Muslim, nor even a particularly religious person. Consequently, this is an article by someone on the outside looking in and making observations. Nevertheless, I do consider myself to be a somewhat informed outsider. I have read extensively on this issue: from journalistic dispatches and essays to critical analysis of the Qur’an to a biography on the Prophet Mohammed. I have travelled in the Muslim world. I have beheld the austere beauty of the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca and have been overwhelmed by the spirit and mystique of the holy city of Moullay Idriss. I hold as one of my dearest principles that we are all human first, before we are Muslim or Christian, homosexual or straight, black or white, etc. I shall try to be as informed and balanced as possible in the following, but am especially open to comments on the issue from Muslims as they provide a perspective I cannot.

The proposed building of a mosque three blocks from the 9/11 site has opened a firestorm of debate. While listening to CBC radio one morning, I heard the voices of some of the protestors against the building. They were the usual ineloquent, hateful and paranoid comments of racists: “They’re [the Muslims] taking over”; “Obama is probably a Muslim”; et cetera ad nauseum. Unfortunately, according to Sheema Khan, one of the guests on that broadcast, the voices of a group of 9/11 firefighters had not been included in the sound bite. They were apparently eloquent and stated that while they respected religious freedoms they believed the building of a mosque to be “too confrontational”. The very fact that there was a protest highlights a disturbing fact: many blame Muslims as a whole for the 9/11 attacks instead of Al-Qaeda terrorists.

The landscape of Islam is as varied as the landscape of most major religions. A Shia man in Tehran may, and most probably will, have a completely different worldview from a Sunni in New York, just as a Baptist Christian in the American South will differ greatly from an Orthodox Christian in Ethiopia or a Druze in Syria. To make Islam and Muslims monolithic and thereby assign blame is like blaming all Christians for the Waco standoff or the abuses of Catholic priests in residential schools. It doesn’t make sense and it shows nothing but ignorance. This is exactly why a mosque should be built near the 9/11 site.

There is of course a more basic argument to be made. It was highlighted by Barak Obama while speaking to a group of young Muslims at the Whitehouse. He stated that the right to build places of worship was part of the American spirit and law. Put simply: it’s not only legal but in keeping with American tradition.

There is a deeper issue that is coming to the forefront as well: the war within Islam. There can be no denying that horrible crimes against humanity have been carried out in the name of Islam. From the 9/11 attacks, to the mutilations and murders of the Taliban, to the repression of women and minorities by Wahabist sect Muslims – the list goes on. Islam, of course, is not alone in this. Most of the world’s religions have been cited as justification for horrible acts all around the world. The vast majority of Muslims oppose these acts and see them as a violation of the true spirit of Islam: a spirit of tolerance and peace.

There is a large and active movement of Islamic reformists who believe that the religion has been, in the words of Sheema Khan, “hijacked by radical Islam”. These reformists face severe dangers in their work from extremists within their own community. Radical Islam and its followers - be they the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt or Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere - believe in overturning secular states where Islam is the dominant religion (e.g. Egypt) and the re-establishment of the Caliphate as an Islamic super state stretching from Morocco to Indonesia that is ruled under Sharia law. The problem is, as Canadian social commentator Gwynne Dyer points out, the Muslim middle-class in these secular states don’t want this and the revolution is failing.

Some thought should be given to why the extremists have gained popularity at all. Many of these secular states are very repressive and very poor. Political repression and economic disenfranchisement leads to resistance. The extremists offer a different path that ends in Paradise and for many it’s a choice they are willing to make. If there’s one point to be made about the Taliban or Al-Qaeda, it’s that they’re genuine. They do believe that God is on their side and they do believe that Jihad, or Holy War, is the one and true path for followers of the faith. What’s remarkable about the extremists is how limited their knowledge of Islam and the Qur’an really is. Like religious extremists of all backgrounds, they read what they want to read and interpret it as they see fit. They believe their holy justification is a command not open to interpretation when their very outlook is based on flawed interpretation.

Canadian Muslim reformist Irshad Manji has started ‘Project Ijtihad’. ‘Ijtihad’ is Islam’s own tradition of debate and dissent. Her work highlights human rights abuses in the name of God. In her writing she cites periods of Islamic history in which religious tolerance was the norm as was respect for women. Her goal is to re-open the shut door and breed debate and the possibility of different interpretation and dissent without the threat of a Fatwa hanging over anyone’s head. Support for her movement is growing.

It is time for America to see the true face of Islam – not just the slanted view from the media (most notably Fox news). There is a streak of Islamophobia a mile wide in the United States that can only be fought with exposure and integration. This will be a difficult task fraught with dangers. Sheema Khan actually opposes the building of the mosque as too confrontational and disrespecting of New Yorkers. Without a doubt, there are many raw nerves surrounding the attacks. She made the very valid point that when she asked the mosque builders where their funding was coming from they dodged the question.

If the New York mosque is a closed space of radical preaching it will be a disaster and an insult to every American. If it is an open space, such as the Hassan II mosque in Casablanca, there is the possibility that minds may change. Mainstream Islam can begin to reclaim their faith from the extremists and people of other faiths can see that their beliefs and those of Muslims are really just different sides of the same coin: belief in and active worship of God. So let the mosque be built, but make it a space not just of worship, but of education and true Ijtihad. It stands the chance of being an American version of the South African Truth and Reconciliation commission. Perhaps, with its building, the deep and terrible wounds that were inflicted that September day 9 years ago can begin to heal. Whether this happens or not remains to be seen, but I am hopeful.