Islam is strictly a democratic faith. There is no central clergy and no infallible bureaucracy in the faith. Institutions like al-Azhar are authoritative but only in as much as the lay Muslim ascribes authority to them. al-Azhar is not the Vatican and the Prophet Muhammad made it clear that no mediator is needed between the believer and Allah.

For most of Islam’s history, that democratic nature of the faith was a great boost to its expansion and the economic prosperity of its adherents. But, as with freedom of speech, the vulgar make use. Democratic Islam also means that self-appointed clerics have taken to interpreting the Qur’an along fundamentalist lines and strongly denounce, even threatening, those whom dispute their rulings.

Although a very small minority, conservative clerics have become very loud. Most Muslims do not go about challenging them because they are simply content with ignoring them. But challenged they must because their words have had an adverse affect on some Muslim youth; particularly the poor and/or alienated as in the case of many Muslims in, say, Britain.

That is where Abdullahi an-Na’im comes. A native of Sudan and a law professor at the elite Emory University in Georgia, an-Na’im dismissed those clerics who casually denounce any alternative interpretation as heresy. This, he argues, is just “an easy way out” for reactionary clerics instead of finding “a way to explain difficult problems” in the way they view of the world. By dismissing someone as a heretic, fundamentalist clerics hope to end debate that may otherwise challenge their authority and welcome a new brand of leaders in the ulama [Islamic jurisprudence community].

an-Na’im believes, and I concur, that Islam is a liberal faith that encourages open thought and discussion, but the problem is that “sociologically, the world of Islam is conservative.”

In an effort to change that, last year is sponsored the “Celebration of Heresy” conference in Atlanta which was meant not to encourage heresy, that was an upbeat title, but open debate.

“Dissident views are healthy for the religion. To keep the religion honest, it is very important that somebody should take the risk of being denounced as heretical,” al-Na’im states.

As to those that call him a heretic: “Only God can judge that—so let me take my chances with God.”

Source: The Economist.