Identities

Tariq Ramadan is among the leading Islamic thinkers in the West, with a large following around the world. He is Professor of Islamic Studies at Oxford University. His little book What I Believe is very accessible and straightforward.

He speaks up for a tolerant kind of Islam. He states that the shariah is not "a system" nor "a closed body of Islamic laws," but is rather the "Way to faithfulness to Islam's objectives" (which consist in protecting life, dignity, justice, equality, peace, Nature, etc.). Thus, in Western society his version of shariah would be anything that protects life, dignity, etc.

He criticizes the media for giving us an optical illusion about Islam. He writes:

The Islamic groups or groupuscules that most often make news, those that express the most incendiary and violent views, represent the tiniest fringe of the Muslim community, which does not identify with them.

Here is a helpful statement: "A point should be noted: multicultural society is a fact; there is no being for or against it."

The most helpful section of the book for me is the one on "Multiple Identities." Ramadan acknowledges that many people these days feel confused and afraid because of rapid change all over the world. What happens is that "one defines one's identity by reaction, by differentiation, in opposition to what one is not, or even against others." However, says the author, the truth is that all of us have multiple identities at once; we are not just This or That. He uses an example put forth by the economist Amartya Sen who said:

Suppose you are a poet and a vegetarian. If you are a dinner guest, this is no time or place to insist on your identity as a poet, while if you attend a poetry circle, you are certainly not going to introduce yourself as a vegetarian, for you would be seen as eccentric. You have more than one identity and you give priority to one or the other depending upon the situation.

What Ramadan wants us to see is that so much of our conflict in the world is caused by over-simplified black-and-white thinking. "I am This—you are That; we are different." But when we affirm our commonalities with other people, we find that the reality is: "I am some of this and some of that, and so are you; we have something in common."

A person can be at the same time a Christian, an American, a fan of jazz, a positive thinker, an advocate for ending hunger, a marathon runner, a Republican, a gourmet, and a member of the Humane Society. Another person can be all of those things, except a Muslim instead of a Christian. Both of course are members of the human race. We all have multiple identities. Muslims can be Muslims and Americans. Christians can be Christians and Palestinians. We have multiple identities.

When we focus too narrowly on one aspect of our identity, even if it is the religious one, we are not seeing the whole truth about ourselves or others. Broadening our sense of identity is part of being what Jesus calls us to be: peacemakers.

My favorite sentence is Tariq Ramadan's book:

    Demand justice and give love. (p. 89)