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Negotiating Paradigms: Islam & The Modern Worldview


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Dr. Sharif El-Tobgui
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About

An interactive exploration of Islam and the modern worldview, negotiating conflicts between the two, and living as Muslims in contemporary times without losing our minds or our faith.

Statement of Topic:

Many Muslims today live torn between two distinct worldviews, value systems, and ways of life: that of Islam and that of the contemporary, secularized world created by the modern West. Though we believe in Islam, we live in the midst of an alternative – and very powerful – intellectual, social, and moral paradigm that impinges on us constantly and seeks to mold our views, judgements, and personalities in its own image.

As a result of this crossing of signals, many Muslims – particularly in the West – have come to think incoherently and to live incongruently. We talk, act, and (often) think as Muslims within Muslim spaces, while adopting different modes of talking, acting, and thinking in the midst of mainstream society. The resultant schizophrenia is not only uncomfortable, but inherently unstable. Anecdotal evidence indicates that the younger generation of Western-born Muslims are, in many respects, already well on their way to losing their bearings, with the normative content of their religion gradually being replaced by the logic and outlook of the dominant paradigm.

Needless to say, this clashing of paradigms – in addition to the regular stirrings of the mind and deliberations of the heart – engenders numerous questions that, in the aggregate, may risk calling our very faith into question. If freedom is the ultimate human good, then why has Islam traditionally regulated, but not banned, slavery? If equality is paramount, then why the differential legislation regarding men and women? If science tells us we evolved from lower life forms, then is the Qur’an proved wrong by affirming the creation of our father Adam (as)? If sexuality is at the core of who we are, then is Islam not oppressive for prohibiting, among other things, homosexual relations?

Objective:

The objective of this weekend intensive is to start building up a solid and comprehensive framework for thinking about and responding to such queries. The assumptions that underlie such questions are often very deep-lying, frequently at the very root of our worldview itself. Intellectual and moral crises can arise when Islam and the dominant paradigm conflict and the questioner is unable to uncover the underlying genealogy of each view, in order better to manage the conflict and to find peace and conviction in a continuing commitment to Islam.

Rather than formulating and rehearsing pat answers to the hot topics of the day (we’ll get there eventually, don’t worry!), our goal is to gain a deeper understanding of how we got to where we are today. In other words, what is this modern world we live in, how did it come about, and what is it really all about on a deep level? The course aims to begin answering the question, What is the modern worldview? and to provide a framework for analyzing this worldview critically from an informed and principled Islamic perspective. From such a vantage point, the answers to many of the hot-button issues of the day will, insha’Allah, eventually begin to emerge on their own. The deeper our grasp of both our religion and the world in which we live, the sharper will be our analysis of our situation and, hence, the more balanced, persuasive, durable, and authentic will be the answers we eventually seek to provide.

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