Inside Muslim Minds * By RIAZ HASSAN

Abstract

This book is a comparative sociological study of Muslim religiosity, comprising seven Muslim countries covering a large swathe of the Muslim world both geographically and numerically, namely: Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey. The ten chapters of this book, in addition to the epilogue, focus on aspects of Islamic consciousness (ch. 1), the nature and structure of Muslim piety (ch. 2), meaning of jihād (ch. 3), the public role of Islam (ch. 4), attitudes toward blasphemy (ch. 5), patriarchy and gender issues (ch. 6), challenges of globalization (ch. 7), Muslim philanthropy (ch. 8), Islam and civil society (ch. 9), and finally (ch. 10) mutual suspicions in Islamic–Western relations. While the book attempts to adhere to rules of ‘scientific’ sociological ‘objectivity’, Hassan does not hide his position and subjectivities regarding two main issues, which he expresses from the outset: salafism, and from there on the position of women in Islam as understood by salafi interpretations. Hassan does not conceal his aversion toward salafism, particularly its Wahhabi variant. He uses the term ‘salafibism’ to refer to the fusion of salafism and Wahhhabism, and to their literal anchoring in the ‘security of Islamic texts’ separated from all the religious subjectivities of interpreting agents. Consequently much of the aesthetic dimensions of Islam are ignored in favour of a form of narrow ‘fanaticism’ that has defiled the image of Islam (pp. 46, 47). He goes from there to shed light on what he perceives to be the unfair and marginalized position of women in the Muslim world, and on cases of implementing Islamic penalties (ḥudūd) against some females but also against other alleged crimes of consciousness. He mentions a case of a pregnant Pakistani woman who claimed she was raped yet was sentenced to death. Though eventually acquitted, it was only after being subjected to a tortuous process of humiliation and fear. He also mentions the case of the Syrian ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Naqshabandī who worked for the Saudi Prince Salmān bin Saʾūd and was subject to trumped-up charges of having practised witchcraft against his employer. Despite his vehement denials Saudi authorities beheaded him in 1996. Another case he mentions is that of the Egyptian scholar and intellectual Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd who was sentenced to be divorced from his wife on grounds of apostasy, a decision that was upheld by the superior court. Both he and his wife had to go into exile in the Netherlands (pp. 24–34). Even though these practices do not enjoy universal support, the fact that they are tolerated reflects, according to Hassan, a troubling level of ‘moral lethargy’ emanating from a long process of ‘indoctrination’ and ‘acculturation’ (pp. 35, 37).