Ballast for true believers

Islam and The Future of Tolerance — A Dialogue by Sam Harris & Maajid Nawaz Harvard University Press; Price: Rs.859; Pages: 138 Sam Harris is a well-known American atheist ideologue. Maajid Nawaz is a former Islamist activist who experienced a momentous change of heart and mind and is now member of a circle of reformers committed to combating Muslim extremism, deradicalising Muslim youth and promoting Islamic reform. This slim book documents a dialogue between the two about issues of great import for the future of Islam and Muslims in a rapidly globalising world. Harris raises thought-provoking questions — such as indiscriminate atrocities in the name of Islam and Muslim attitudes towards people of other creeds. Responding, Nawaz acknowledges the gravity of the challenges, highlights the possibility of using Islamic arguments to counter religious extremism and reflects on the need to foster secularism, democracy and human rights in Muslim societies trapped in conformity. The amicable exchanges between the two scholars reveal that although their appreciation and understanding of religiosity may differ radically on many points, a confirmed atheist and a religious reformer can find sufficient common ground to have an engaging and meaningful dialogue towards commitment to peace, democracy, secularism (understood as separation of religion and state) and justice. Today, the violence flowing out of extremism and terrorism in the cause of Islam is a global issue of grave concern. The conversation between Harris and Nawaz focuses mainly on this subject. Harris argues that contrary to the claim of Muslim reformists, Islam is not a religion of peace. He contends instead that Islamic extremists are “implementing what is arguably the most honest reading of the faith’s actual doctrine”. Nawaz responds by pointing out that “polarisation of this debate between those who insist that Islam is a religion of war and proceed to engage in war for it, and those who insist that Islam is a religion of war and proceed to engage in war against it” has led to an intractable situation, adding that religious texts can be diversely understood and that they need to be interpreted. The Quran, like any other text (religious or otherwise) can be interpreted in various different, often mutually-contradictory ways. If radical Islamists champion a violence-driven, politics-centric interpretation of the holy book, Muslim reformists articulate diametrically different readings of Islam, rooted in peace and harmony. What people read into a text depends heavily on their cultural and ideological baggage. The thrust of peacenik Nawaz’s case is that multiple interpretations of any scripture (or any other text for that matter) are inevitable. Hence, he says, “all variant readings of a holy book become a matter of differing human perspectives”. He challenges the claim of militant Wahhabists to be in possession of the Absolute Truth, and contends that several verses in the Holy Quran, as well as many hadiths attributed to Prophet Muhammad, propagate peace, compassion and friendly relations between Muslims and people of other faiths. “The best way to undermine extremists’ insistence that truth is on their side is…