What are the progressive roots within Islam, and can they be strengthened? A roundtable discussion. BY HASSAN ABBAS KEITH ELLISON ASRA Q. NOMANI ANI ZONNEVELD
Democracy - A Journal of Ideas, SUMMER 2016, NO. 4Democracy brought together four prominent Muslim Americans who represent a range of progressive political viewpoints to ask them about the progressive roots of Islam, how the religion might revive those more liberal traditions, the extent to which Muslims and non-Muslims should criticize Islam, and more. The discussion took place on April 19, in Representative Keith Ellison’s Capitol Hill office. It was co-moderated by Democracy editor Michael Tomasky and Nation contributor Ali Gharib.
As we went to press, we asked the participants for their reactions to the Orlando tragedy, which are appended at the bottom of this article.
Michael Tomasky: First question. You’re all here because you are, to one degree or another, liberal and Muslim, and a lot of people—and I don’t mean Donald Trump voters, I mean readers of this journal—wouldn’t know how to square that. So I’d like all of you to explain, in your ways, how you can be both of those things. What is it in Islam that leads to and informs a liberal political point of view? Congressman, if you want to start.
Keith Ellison: Well, you know, in every surah in the Quran, it starts a certain kind of way: “In the name of the most merciful, the most compassionate.” So how in the world can you take that entity, that we say is the most merciful and the most compassionate, and not follow those same attributes? And to be compassionate and generous and kind, loving, honest, truthful. I don’t know if that’s liberal or not, but it’s what I’m trying to do. Failed plenty. But strive to do those things.
And I have a district where people have needs. As a politician I’ve got to solve problems. People are hungry, people don’t have food, people don’t have a place to live. I would like the foreign policy of my country to be just and right. Justice shouldn’t stop at the water’s edge, we should embody that. Not in an obtrusive way, but in a collaborative way. Certainly not in an exploitative and militaristic and forceful way. So, I mean, I guess if I’m a progressive or liberal as a Muslim, it comes naturally out of what my faith calls upon me to do.
And I’ll just say quickly before I turn it over. You know, I’m a black man from America. I was born in a Christian household. I was not born in freedom. When I was born in 1963, America did not allow black people to vote in large parts of it. The 1964 Civil Rights Act hadn’t come yet, the 1965 Voting Rights Act had not come yet. My children are the first black people in America born with all of their rights. And at an early age, I couldn’t square how I and Bull Connor could have the same religion. How could I and the racist conceive of the divine in the same way? It’s impossible. So eyes begin to search. Some African Americans found black liberation theology; others found Catholic social teaching—that’s what my mother found. I found Islam.
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