Islamic Reform Movements after the Arab Spring

Abstract

On June 24-July 3, 2013, the International Institute of Islamic Thought held
 its annual Summer Institute for Scholars. Given the number of presentations,
 only a few of them will be mentioned here.
 In his welcoming remarks, Abdul Aziz Sachedina (George Mason University)
 spoke eloquently about how change has to come from within, how
 politics still dominates values, and how the Qur’an and Sunnah are being read
 not for inspiration, but for putting down opposition and dissenters. The Arab
 Spring represents a challenge to undertake such an internal reform. Unfortunately,
 he said, cyberspace contains no serious conversation in this regard,
 just hostility and animosity, which only damages Muslims. He called for leaders
 to “moralize” the entire issue in order to achieve co-existence, mainly between
 Shi‘is and Sunnis, and wondered if the reformers could deal with this
 and other issues.
 John Voll (Georgetown University), who delivered the keynote address,
 “Pop-politics and Elections: Islam and Democracy after the Arab Spring,”
 raised the question as to whether the Arab Spring makes any difference, given
 that reform movements have been going on in the Muslim world since 1880.
 Are we, he asked, “looking at something moving forward/different, or just rehashing
 the same old arguments?” He opined that a new vocabulary is needed
 and that people have to move beyond “interfaith,” “tolerance,” and interreligious
 dialogue and speak to each other about “shared interests.” He then discussed
 earlier Muslim reform movements and how their goals have changed
 over the years.
 Yahya Michot (Hartford University) presented a special lecture entitled
 “Taymiyyan Thoughts for a Temperate Arab Summer.” He pointed out how
 different groups (e.g., those groups responsible for assassinating Sadat, the
 Algerian civil war, and 9/11) took Ibn Taymiyyah’s anti-Mongol fatwas out
 of context to justify their actions. Thus they ignored the underlying issues:
 The supposedly “Muslim” Mongols were still massacring Muslims; ...