Rethinking Islamic Reform @ Oxford (feat Dr. Tariq Ramadan & Sh Hamza Yusuf )

[Nawawi619]

Rethinking Islamic Reform

Guest Speakers:
Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Hanson
Professor Tariq Ramadan

Rethinking Islamic Reform
Sheldonian Theatre
Wednesday 26th May 2010
Doors Open: 5.30 pm
Last Entry: 6pm
more info: http://www.rethinkingislamicreform.co.uk/

In the post 9/11 world, it has grown to be an axiomatic truth that Islam needs to reform. Whether it is Western policy-makers seeking to protect themselves from Muslim extremists, humanitarian activists fighting to liberate silenced Muslims, or Muslims themselves responding to new paradigms faced in the 21st century, all are agreed that something within the tradition of Islam needs to change. The question though, is what, and perhaps more pertinently, how?

The drive to reform has spurred many projects with diverging aims and often contradictory trajectories, yet the notion of reform itself, despite being one of the most oft-repeated, remains ill-defined. Indeed, some reform projects have been judged to be wholly inattentive, if not injurious, to the Muslim communities they claim to be serving. Most recently, a House of Commons' Committee highlighted the sensitivity of the issue, reporting that much of the effort towards reform has resulted in 'stigmatising' and 'potentially alienating' the Muslim community.

Considering widespread readiness to support Islamic reform, effective management and guidance must be provided to ensure the success of this pursuit. Thus, at this decisive historical juncture, it is crucial that voices which command the intellectual respect and trust of the Muslim public are engaged. Our two esteemed guest speakers, Hamza Yusuf and Tariq Ramadan, provide precisely that: the leading figures in this field, both are active and sensitive contributors to Western political discourse whilst being able to authoritatively communicate mainstream Islamic opinions to Western audiences.

Invitations for this event will extend to ministers, policy advisors, think tanks, journalists, theologians, scholars and other public figures with an interest in the field of Islamic Reform.

Drawing on the expertise of the speakers and that of the prospective audience, this instructive conference will therefore seek to clarify and answer: What is reform? What is legitimate reform? What are its spheres and remits? Why have reform movements been met with distrust and trepidation by the Muslim grass-roots? What roles, if any, should governments play in Islamic reform? What are the challenges they face?

Ultimately, this conference aims to address: What type of reform is needed, and how should this reform come into effect?

[Zees]

Come now Nawawi you have not finally decided on becoming a revisionist have you? How is it that you speak with our words. Whatever the reason maybe i hereby welcome you to the reformist club and leave you with a quote to ponder upon;

“Idealists are foolish enough to throw caution to the winds and in doing so have advanced mankind and thereby enriched the world.”

[Nawawi619]

Come now Nawawi you have not finally decided on becoming a revisionist have you? How is it that you speak with our words. Whatever the reason maybe i hereby welcome you to the reformist club and leave you with a quote to ponder upon;

“Idealists are foolish enough to throw caution to the winds and in doing so have advanced mankind and thereby enriched the world.”

How is promoting this event revisionist? Obviously you have never followed the lectures, books, etc of Shaykh Hamza Yusuf. Shaykh Hamza Yusuf is an American muslim scholar who got many Muslims in the west, including myself to re-tap into the lost (neglected) intellectual heritage of Traditional Sunni Islam. He can be credited for popularizing Traditional Sunni Islam in the West through his deen intensives, Zaytuna Institute, his soon to be Zaytuna College, and his lectures and classes. He follows the Maliki school of fiqh (and encourages everyone to follow one of the four schools of jurisprudence), Ashar'i in Islamic theology, and accepts the validity and practice of Tasawwuf (Sufism). All you have to google him or youtube him and you will see that.

As far as Dr. Tariq Ramadan. He is a Muslim Academic and intellectual. Although I personally disagree with some of his conclusions, he still tries to frame his discussions on Islam within the framework that has been around for centuries.

What will be interesting is the intellectual discourse and exchange that both scholars will be engaging on this issue. Their talk of reform is not what YOU mean as reform (based on your off the wall statements on this forum). And they aren't being revisionist. They are trying to pragmatically figure out the new ills of the Muslim world community by putting in as Dr. Sherman Jackson has said, in conversation with sacred history and our intellectual heritage.

[Zees]

I truly hope this is not beyond your mental faculties but could you kindly inform me as to the difference between a revisionist and a reformist.

[Ratatosk]

Revisionists try to change the past. Reformists try to change the future.

[Zees]

Reform is the mother of revisionism in much the same way as necessity is the mother of invention. It is the need for reform that drives men in the first place to revisit and reinterpret their respective histories all for the sake of reforming their societies. Hence there is no reform without revisionism and no revisionism without reform.