The quest for Muslim liberalism: An Egyptian’s journey from ultraconservatism to liberalism

Ahmed M. Abou Hussein *

An Egyptian man waves the national flag 

next to a graffiti on a newly whitewashed wall

 in Tahrir Square in Cairo on Friday, Sept. 21. 

(PHOTO ap, Nasser Nasser)

I come from a typical Egyptian family that did not emphasize religious teachings as much as it did morals in general. Stealing, lying and cheating are bad traits because they are immoral, not because they are forbidden.

My relationship with Islam was very opaque until the age of 15, when a friend of ours started attending religious seminars and listening to Islamic recordings by state-banned sheikhs. I started to indulge myself in conservative Islamic teachings so fast that, as I remember, in the first few months of being a practicing Muslim, I read dozens of Islamic books and booklets (printed in the Gulf), listened to multiple recordings and attended dozens of Islamic seminars. The excitement of getting to know my religion and doing something against the state was quite gratifying, yet not fulfilling. Soon and at the age of 16, I stopped talking to girls or shaking their hands, listening to music, watching television or going to the movies. My family had some objections, but the more they objected, the more stubborn I became.

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Islam without Extremes: A Muslim case for liberty

Şahin Alpay

“Is Islam a religion of coercion and repression? Or is it compatible with the idea of liberty -- that individuals have full control over their lives and are free to be religious, irreligious or whatever they wish to be?

There are many good reasons to ask these questions. Islamic societies in the contemporary world are really not beacons of freedom… Not a single Muslim-majority country today can be defined as ‘fully free’…”

The above questions and assessments are the starting point of a new book by Mustafa Akyol, a young Turkish journalist who has recently distinguished himself for dealing with questions that are truly worth asking. It can be said that Akyol’s book, “Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case For Liberty” (Norton, 2011), primarily addresses the widespread prejudices in Western societies about Islam -- though neither prejudices about Islam nor those who need to learn more about it are confined to the Western world.

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Time for Muslim anger management

Mustafa Akyol

Welcome to yet another clash between Muslim notions of sacredness and Western attempts to defy them: A vulgar anti-Islamic film called “The Innocence of Muslims,” which was apparently produced by a group of anti-Islamic Americans, has sparked a wave of violent anti-American protests in Egypt, Libya and Yemen. In Benghazi, U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three of his team members were tragically killed. Fears are that the protests might lead to violence against other American targets in the Muslim Middle East and perhaps beyond.

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“The problem is not political Islam but authoritarian Islam," says Mustafa Akyol

Mustafa Akyol (Photo: Today's Zaman)

Speaking to the Washington Times’ Luke Montgomery, columnist Mustafa Akyol said:

In Islamic history, we have a tradition of pluralism. At times, pluralism was attacked and those were bad times for Islamic civilization, so I think we need to have more pluralism. In order to have that, you need neutral states without an official doctrine. I’m not advocating a strong separation between religion and politics, but I’m an advocate of the secular state in the sense that it is neutral towards different religious communities. In other words, the problem is not political Islam but authoritarian Islam.

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