This online publication, which we are calling IjtihadReason, is named for two highly debated yet valued notions from the Islamic and Western traditions respectively, "ijtihad" and "reason" — notions that intersect and highlight the nuances that human consciousness has tackled since the beginning. In this publication we invite both the contributors and the readership to respectfully, and with an informed awareness, identify what is shared in common and to seek to understand what is not.
The launching of IjtihadReason expresses the commitment of the contributors to work with each other — to listen as well as to speak, and to exchange ideas honestly, forthrightly, and with mutual respect. We have met privately since 2004 to discuss the issues confronting our world. We emerge now as a group of scholars, practitioners, and public intellectuals who trust one another and who can reason together in the public sphere. We come together as people of good faith and in good will to make our best contribution to the development of civil society throughout the world.
By Hassan I. Mneimneh
Jihad as a term and as practice has been effectively hijacked by anarchy and mayhem and has been too often reduced to vicious action without reason. From the same tradition, but along a different path, a symbolic response to the usurpation of the heritage is emerging in the assertion that ijtihad, reason committed to the collective good, is still in sound practice. Read more
By Jean Bethke Elshtain
The upshot in Western modernity is that reason is collapsed into a narrow rationalism. Faith is construed as the unreasoning beliefs of those who somehow cannot overcome childish fantasies. It follows that any consideration of 'reason' from the side of Western realities and assumptions needs to come to grips with this divide and to discern ways to bridge the destructive gap. Read more
By Peter Skerry
For Americans, this is a particularly difficult time, as we are compelled to address internal economic and fiscal challenges even as we take stock of our place in the world. But take stock we must. And as we do so, one of the most elusive challenges that we face is coming to terms with the cultural dimension of our encounter with the Muslim world. Read more
Comment
By Hassan I. Mneimneh, Principal Investigator
The 100 Influential Voices from the Arab World is an attempt to provide the reader with a snapshot of the multiple facets of the Arab political and cultural debate, and to confront the prevailing view in the international media that we live in a world of us versus them, moderates versus extremists, friends and enemies. The voices featured define much of the cultural conversation in the Arab world today. Read more
By Peter Skerry
The mosque near ground zero should be built, but not merely on account of the lofty principles about religious freedom articulated by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. In fact, when it comes to Islam, Americans have good reason to be suspicious of high-minded pronouncements by their leaders. A more compelling argument for building the mosque is to get beyond the current controversy Read more
By Hassan I. Mneimneh
The current controversy surrounding the building of an Islamic community center in the vicinity of Ground Zero reveals a dramatic shift in the position towards Islam, as religion, culture, and community, in the United States, and points to further degeneration in a relationship already plagued with stereotypes and preconceived ideas. The controversy did emerge to the fore of mainstream culture in the United States as a result of objections verbalized by voices that may have been deemed marginal until recently. The silence with which their objections have been treated in the wider culture is, however, significant. Read more
By Hassan I. Mneimneh
At the 9th anniversary of the attacks of September 11th, 2001, it is further evident that this momentous event has amounted to a turning point in the history of the United States. It was indeed the first attack of such magnitude on the continental USA; it also occurred at a moment of perceived prosperity and security, with the Cold War relegated to history, and with the United States confirmed in its role as the sole global superpower. Read more
By Abdulrahman al-Salimi
When it was announced that most of the September 11th attackers came from the Arabian Peninsula—particularly Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen—it raised the question of why most of those involved were from the same region. Many initially alleged that poverty and economic backwardness were to blame. Read more
By Hassan I. Mneimneh
The momentous events witnessed by Tunisia, and which led to the collapse of the 23 years-old authoritarian regime of Zine el-Abidine Bin Ali, are evidently the culmination of a long build-up of grievances, notably economic and political, in a society plagued by lack of opportunity for the emerging generation and a stranglehold on the benefits from national development by the entourage of the ruler. Read more
By Hassan I. Mneimneh
The popular uprisings, first in Tunisia, and now in Egypt, expose the limitations of a political order that gave the illusion of providing stability and securing the interests of many stakeholders. It is an order based on the convergence of interests of local autocrats and global powers, both seeking to contain and reverse the rise of militant Islamism and neutralize the effects of the Palestinian question. Read more
By Hassan I. Mneimneh
The longing for freedom, justice, and opportunities for individual and collective progress are innate traits of human nature. They are universal values, despite disparate attempts at obfuscating this self-evident truth—whether these attempts come in the form of a cultural relativism that postulates that Shari‘ah, however ill-defined or undefined, is what motivates the individual and society in settings that are thus reduced to being labeled Muslim, or whether these attempts emanate from a variably camouflaged cultural elitism that predicates the appreciation of universal values on the successful completion of English-language college-level courses on Locke, Hobbes, Burke, and Jefferson. Read more
By Hassan I. Mneimneh
He lived by the fire, and died by the fire. Almost ten years after the millennial terrorist act that made him the arch-villain for most, but still a hero for some, Usamah Bin Ladin is dead. While its circumstances will undoubtedly remain obscure, his death carries considerable symbolic value, and ought to serve as an impetus to move forward in global relations. However, a concerted effort is needed not to let the extreme expressions of jubilation and frustration to be used to widen a rift between cultures and societies. Read more
