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The Politics of Muslim Intellectual Discourse in the West

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The Politics of Muslim Intellectual Discourse in the West The Politics of Muslim Intellectual Discourse in the West: the Emergence of a Western-Islamic Public Sphere A Dissertation Submitted to the Committee on Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Trent University Peterborough, ON © Copyright by Dilyana Lyubomirova Mincheva 2013 January 2014 Cultural Studies, PhD, Graduate Program ABSTRACT The Politics of Muslim Intellectual Discourse in the West: the Emergence of a Western-Islamic Public Sphere Dilyana Lyubomirova Mincheva The dissertation explores and defends the theory and practice of a Western-Islamic public sphere (which is secular but not secularist and which is Islamic but not Islamist), within which a critical Islamic intellectual universe can unfold, dealing hermeneutically with texts and politically with lived practices, and which, moreover, has to emerge from within the arc of two alternative, conflicting, yet equally dismissive suspicions defined by a view that critical Islam is the new imperial rhetoric of hegemonic orientalism and the opposite view that critical Islam is just fundamentalism camouflaged in liberal rhetoric. The Western-Islamic public sphere offers a third view, arising from ethical commitment to intellectual work, creativity, and imagination as a portal to the open horizons of history. Key words: Critical Islam, critique, public sphere, secular, Islamic reformation, hermeneutics, history, literature, Islamic intellectual discourses ii Acknowledgments: This text wouldn’t have been possible without the four years spent in the vivid, stimulating, and intellectually challenging environment of the Cultural Studies Department at Trent University (2009-2013). For creating this unique atmosphere I would like to thank the directors of the PhD Program in the mentioned period who took dedicated care of me as a doctoral student: Prof. Emeritus John Fekete and Dr. Alan O’Connor. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks of gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Davide Panagia whom I regard not only as a mentor but also as a role model, inspirational, supportive, and patient. I could not be prouder of my academic roots and hope that I can, in turn, pass on the research values and the dreams that he has given to me. I would like also to thank Prof. Emeritus Andrew Wernick, whose expertise, understanding, and vast knowledge in the field of sociology of religion added considerably not only to the writing of the thesis but to my whole graduate experience. A very special thanks goes out to Prof. Emeritus John Fekete, without whose motivation and encouragement I would not have fought to finish this thesis project on time, to present it in front of international audiences, and to consider a post-PhD career. He provided me with direction and support and became more of a mentor, and friend, than a professor. It is through his persistence, understanding, and kindness that I am able today to see the final version of my dissertation. I doubt that I will ever be able to convey my appreciation fully, but I owe him my eternal gratitude. I would like also to express heartfelt gratitude to my colleague and friend, Jeremy Leipert, for the dedicated linguistic editing and comments on the entire manuscript. Thanks to iii him the dissertation is written in a better English and its message is more communicative than I have ever hoped it would be. I recognize that this research would not have been possible without the financial assistance of OGS, the Trent University Graduate Studies, the Department of Cultural Studies at Trent University (Teaching Assistantships), the financial assistance of the Doctoral Program in Cultural Studies at Trent University (Research and Travel grants), and the research funds of Canada Research Chair in Cultural Studies, and express my gratitude to those agencies. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for the support they provided through my entire life. Yet the presence of mind and soul for successfully finishing this adventure springs from the two people who are my life: my son Constantin, who came as a present at the very end of the thesis writing to teach me more than I could ever imagine, and Petar Enchev, my heart’s companion, whose myriad talents converge in his passionate and graceful way of loving life and living love in every single moment of our mortal existence. iv Contents ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgments: ..................................................................................................................................... iii Instead of an Introduction: the Project of a Western-Islamic Public Sphere .................................... viii Main Concepts ........................................................................................................................................ xiv Chapter 1: The Politics of Critical Islam in the Focus of the Western-Islamic Public Sphere ............ 1 1.1. The Praxis of Critique ................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Examples of Religious Heteronomies ........................................................................................... 5 1.3. Critical Islam against Heteronomy ............................................................................................. 10 1.4. The Western-Islamic Public Sphere: Theory and Praxis ............................................................ 15 1.5. The Meaning of Critique inside the Western-Islamic Public Sphere .......................................... 18 Chapter 2: Critical Islam inside the Academia ...................................................................................... 28 2.1. Quranic Hermeneutics: the Work of Muhammed Arkoun and Nasr Abu Zayd ......................... 30 2.2. The Scholarly Projects of Tariq Ramadan, Malek Chebel, and Fethi Benslama ........................ 41 Tariq Ramadan ................................................................................................................................... 43 Malek Chebel ...................................................................................................................................... 46 Fethi Benslama ................................................................................................................................... 50 2.3. The Perspective of the Western-Islamic Public Sphere – Part I ................................................. 54 Chapter 3: The Western-Islamic Public Sphere in the Light of the North American Post-Colonial Studies and the European Polemics against Islam ................................................................................. 57 3.1. The Conundrums of Orientalism: the Reception of Critical Islam in North American Academia 63 3.2. The Tyranny of Guilt – a Counterresponse to the North-American Post-Colonial Studies’ Agendas .................................................................................................................................................. 69 v 3.3. The Perspective of the Western-Islamic Public Sphere – Part II ................................................ 80 Chapter 4: Beyond Critical Islam: the Ground Zero Mosque Controversy ....................................... 84 4.1. Remarks on American Islam ....................................................................................................... 85 4.2. The American-Islamic Public Sphere ......................................................................................... 88 4.3. The Politics of the Ground Zero Mosque Controversy ............................................................... 90 4.4. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s Project .............................................................................................. 93 4.5. Rauf’s “What’s Right with America?”: the Rationalist, Kantian Perspective ............................ 98 4.6. Rauf’s “What’s Right with Islam?”: the Religious Perspective ................................................ 106 4.7. The Sufi Tradition: Reference to Al-Ghazali in Imam Feisal Rauf .......................................... 116 4.8. A Perspective beyond Imam Feisal Rauf: the American-Islamic Public Sphere ...................... 121 Chapter 5: Literary Voices Turned Political: the Poetical Dimension of the Western-Islamic Public Sphere ...................................................................................................................................................... 125 5.1. On the Politics of Literary Texts ............................................................................................... 132 5.2. Abdelwahab Meddeb’s Public and Literary Project ................................................................. 133 5.2.1. Reception of Abdelwahab Meddeb’s Critique ................................................................... 144 5.3. Ali Eteraz’s Children of Dust – Plot and Structure ................................................................... 147 5.3.1. Children of Dust in the Perspective of the Western-Islamic Public Sphere ...................... 152 5.4. The Poetics of Nadeem Aslam’s Maps for Lost Lovers ........................................................... 157 5.4.1. Maps for Lost Lovers – Plot and Themes ......................................................................... 162
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