American Muslims Disagree About Nature of Islam

 

By Ed Warner

A group of young Muslims - pious¹, intense, hostile -- made Haitham Bundakji, the mosque² chairman, uneasy. Isolated³ from other worshippers, they criticized him for wearing western clothes, for not wearing a beard, for reaching out to the Jewish community in Garden Grove⁴, California. So it was not a complete surprise, writes the Washington Post, when the group produced an Islamic terrorist now sought by the FBI.

This is the kind of Islam Ahmed Nassef rejects. Executive director of the Progressive Muslim Union of North America, he says Islam is open, questing, inclusive. Yet too often its spokesmen, amplified⁵ in the media, are rigid⁶ and orthodox.

"We do have, of course, the ultra-conservative element that sees us as trying to change the faith, which is not what we are trying to do by any means," says Mr. Nassef. "We are actually trying to go back to our own vision of what Islam means; that is, an egalitarian, inclusive kind of vision."

Mr. Nassef says this broader view of Islam is to a large extent generational. Recent immigrants tend to cling to the traditions of their homelands, while their children and grandchildren reflect an American environment. "What this means is that we have a large number of people who are extremely comfortable with their American identity just as much as they are with a Muslim identity," says Mr. Nassef. "In many ways our Muslim institutions in America have lagged behind. They continue to be dominated by foreign issues, by people who are recent immigrants and plan to go back home."

This narrow approach tends to alienate⁷ many Muslims, says Mr. Nessef. Out of four to five million Muslims in America, only about ten percent have any relationship with mosques⁸ or Muslim institutions. "So the vast majority of them have really felt disaffected⁹, disenfranchised, not welcome in many of the existing Muslim institutions. So we felt it is time to give voice to that silent segment that was not being expressed," says Mr. Nassef.

One voice is an internet website - muslimwakeup.com - that discusses a range of issues once considered off limits. Among them is the increasing role of women in Islam. Nancy Sadiq, an Egyptian-born American Muslim who works at Cornell Medical Center in New York, told the Jerusalem Report that some mosque leaders insist women's place is in the home. Not so, she says, if you read the Koran. She cites the Prophet Mohammed's wife Aisha.

"In the Prophet's time, a lot of the women who are exemplified by Aisha - may peace be upon her - were very progressive in their actions. They were included during war. They were involved in the community. They worked. They had children. They led prayer. They were just as scholarly in their religious beliefs and knowledge as men were."

Nancy Sadiq is a devout¹⁰ practicing Muslim who wears a head scarf, avoids alcohol and obeys Islamic law. This occasionally leads to trouble. On New York's subway, a group of girls once yanked off her scarf and ripped her shirt with a razor blade while cursing her religion.

John Voll, director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, says today's progressive Muslims represent a strong, viable¹¹ alternative to radical¹² militants¹³ so much in the news. There is a battle underway for what some people call the soul of Islam.

"It's very very important for policy makers¹⁴ to recognize that the struggle is not a struggle between separate individual civilizations, the struggle is not a struggle between Islam and the West or Islam and modernity," says Mr. Voll.

"What you have is an argument within the Muslim world between the progressive Muslims who are firmly part of the modern world against the more radical extremists that are represented by something like al-Qaeda." Whoever wins that battle, says Professor Voll, is crucial for both Islam and the rest of the world.

For focus, this is Ed Warner.

注释：
pious 虔诚的
mosque 清真寺
worshipper 礼拜者
beard 胡须
amplify 增强
orthodox 正统的
ultra-conservative 极端保守主义的
egalitarian 平等主义
lag 落后
alienate 疏远
disaffected 抱不平的，不服的
devout 虔敬的，诚恳的
yank 猛拉
modernity 现代性

1 pious   

adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的

参考例句：

• Alexander is a pious follower of the faith.亚历山大是个虔诚的信徒。
• Her mother was a pious Christian.她母亲是一个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

3 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

4 grove   

n.林子，小树林，园林

参考例句：

• On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
• The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。

5 amplified   

放大，扩大( amplify的过去式和过去分词 )； 增强； 详述

参考例句：

• He amplified on his remarks with drawings and figures. 他用图表详细地解释了他的话。
• He amplified the whole course of the incident. 他详述了事件的全过程。

6 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

7 alienate   

vt.使疏远，离间；转让(财产等)

参考例句：

• His attempts to alienate the two friends failed because they had complete faith.他离间那两个朋友的企图失败了，因为他们彼此完全信任。
• We'd better not alienate ourselves from the colleagues.我们最好还是不要与同事们疏远。

8 mosques   

清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why make us believe that this tunnel runs underneath the mosques? 为什么要让我们相信这条隧洞是在清真寺下？
• The city's three biggest mosques, long fallen into disrepair, have been renovated. 城里最大的三座清真寺，过去年久失修，现在已经修复。

9 disaffected   

adj.（政治上）不满的，叛离的

参考例句：

• He attracts disaffected voters.他吸引了心怀不满的选民们。
• Environmental issues provided a rallying point for people disaffected with the government.环境问题把对政府不满的人们凝聚了起来。

10 devout   

adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness)

参考例句：

• His devout Catholicism appeals to ordinary people.他对天主教的虔诚信仰感染了普通民众。
• The devout man prayed daily.那位虔诚的男士每天都祈祷。

11 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。

12 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

13 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

14 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》