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A socio-rhetoric analysis of Farid Esack's Islamic Liberation Theology as expounded in Quran liberation and pluralism by Mohamed Zakariyah Ismail MA Dissertation Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree MASTER OF ARTS in SEMITIC LANGUAGES AND CULTURE in the FACULTY OF HUMANITIES at the UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG SUPERVISOR: Dr Mohammed Shaheed Mathee CO-SUPERVISOR: Professor Maria Frahm-Arp Submission Date: January 2017 1 Acknowledgements Hospitality, and hospitality is a very general name for all our relations to the Other, has to be re-invented at every second, it is something without a pre-given rule. That is what we have to invent - a new language for instance. When two people who don't speak the same language meet, what should they do? They have to translate, but translation is an invention, to invent a new way of translating in which translation doesn't simply go one way but both ways, and how can we do that? (Derrida, 1997) In a world steeped in individualism, certain ostensibly personal achievements or accomplishments often serve merely to reinforce a subtle yet crucial aspect of late capitalist alienation. It seems to blind most of us to the vast contributions ordinary folk make, through their labour, dreams, fortitude, humour and conversations to the exclusive life of privilege and opportunity they are ultimately denied. In a capitalist society the ceremonies that mark 'individual accomplishments' are often no more than the ideological rituals by which the system rewards docile compliance. At several levels, these events serve to reinforce a form of being and knowing articulated through a crass individualism that undermines most of the noble objectives of authentic creative freedom, vivacious agonistic equality and caring fraternity. Nonetheless, this stage of my journey, the completion of a MA dissertation, represents one of the countless mutually supported threads in the grand texture of the interwoven life. Along the way support inevitably comes from system stalwarts prompted by professional, utilitarian and/or even moral concerns. Such support, often vital, is largely instrumental and perfunctory. I try, however, not to lose sight of the countless ordinary moments and personalities whose contributions are marginalized, even obliterated, by the syntax of the dominant cultural language. Here, in my simple provenance, on the fringes of gloss, far from the metropoles of pomp, through the web of reciprocal care, succour comes from a realizable dream we share as 4 we dance defiantly against the desolated tracts of sub human existence engendered by a relentless soul-consuming capitalist machine. This experience offers a lot more than instrumental perfunctory commodified support. It prefigures and foretells, as it inspires, with profound encompassing magnanimity the realisable alternative. To all those who have, directly and indirectly, caringly shared the journey with me to this point please accept my heartfelt gratitude. 5 Abstract This dissertation undertakes a socio-rhetoric analysis of Esack's ILT as conveyed in his book Quran, Liberation and Pluralism. Having arrested the inevitable ironies and nuances of his venture, Esack describes the objective of his enterprise as the freedom to rethink the meaning of scripture to advance the liberation of all people. This noble desideratum was, as this dissertation will demonstrate, severely trammelled, if not undermined, by several subjective proclivities and idiosyncratic impulses. A socio-rhetoric analysis explores the mutually defining and modifying dynamics of the relationship between discourse and history. Esack's ILT, because it purports to be based on the Quran, requires several strenuous manoeuvres and strategic devices. This entails 1] a hermeneutics, a legitimate way of reading the Quran, which is logically and theologically tenable, 2) keys, a codification of theory expected to streamline the dialogue between the Quran and political struggle, 3] a plausibility structure that helps to define or redefine legitimate authority, history, modes of struggle, historically and ethically feasible systemic alternatives, and, crucially for a located Esack, the bases for determining friends and foes. Esack's apprehension of the socio-rhetoric landscape he had to negotiate inclined him to adopt a particular version of context-bound hermeneutics. He chooses to elaborate and substantiate this choice by, implicit and explicit, recourse to inchoate notions of relativism, constructivism, subjectivity, history, text and context. Esack's approach, however, is not conceptually and theoretically rigorous and as a consequence his hermeneutics has to rely on several tenuous and aporetic theoretical positions. 6 The keys, condensing/distilling certain theological and methodological elements, represent a pragmatic attempt to expedite the hermeneutic praxis. Notwithstanding their air of novelty and theoretical potential, the keys can also be construed as being at times merely a direct translation of the anti-apartheid populist slogans such as 'unity/tauhid', 'the people/al-nas', and 'struggle/jihad' into Arabic. Esack's plausibility structure aims to rescue by means of etymology and archaeology a non- reified inclusivist Islam committed to a 'just' alternative to apartheid SA. He tries to achieve this by rearticulating or perhaps resuscitating the 'original' meanings of the key signifiers Islam, iman, din, and kufr. Esack's efforts prove to be plausible. However, in his scramble, he opts to marginalise, rather brashly, the rich intertextual legacy of the Quran. Esack's excessive dependence on floating signifiers in his general discourse introduces another area of concern. This problem, particularly as seen from a subaltern liberatory perspective, is encapsulated in the ease with which his political rhetoric and calculus capitulated to the ANC's neoliberal juggernaut. This study had two foci. One, the conceptual coherence of Esack's theoretical undertaking. Two, the consonance between his political calculus and the structures and methods [molar and molecular aspects] of everyday subaltern praxis locally and globally. The purpose of the study is to sustain the progressive momentum generated by Esack's work through rigorous intellectual engagement. Notwithstanding the individualism of the dominant ideology, it is not about individuals. Rather, it is about two basic persons, within the complex language of the ordinary, vigorously, fallibly, and fondly, trying to make a constructive contribution to the ongoing subaltern struggle, conversation and quest for a more humane, meaningful and beautiful world for all. 7 As with any study of this nature, inconsistencies and lacuna are identified and critiqued. To minimise the outflow of nuance, the terrain of this study is historically and bio-politically delineated. Esack's work, naturally, is visceral and cerebral. The context to which the central thrust of QLP responds was highly charged and oft times swirling with bewildering exigencies. As a consequence of this scenario, the shadow of the visceral, understandably, though not excusably, often eclipsed the subtleties of the cerebral Esack was struggling to enunciate. 8 Table of Contents Affidavit ........................................................................................................................ i Acknowledgements… ................................................................................................... i Abstract… ................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents… .................................................................................................... vi Introduction… ............................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1: Locating Esack– Biography as Cultural Prism and Social Allegory…….16 Chapter 2: Her-meneutics or His-manipulation .......................................................... 50 Chapter 3: Hermeneutical keys: towards a Theopolitical Chimera ............................. 93 Chapter 4: Qur’an, Politics and Alterity: Esack’s defence ........................................... 124 Chapter 5: Islamic Liberation Theology and Politics of ‘The People’: between the Vertical and the Horizontal ............... 155 Conclusion… ............................................................................................................... 183 Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 191 9 Introduction Setting the scene The ‘post-2015 agenda’ is a chance to usher in a new era