Kerby Anderson

Where are the moderate Muslims? This a question I hear whenever there is a terrorist attack and there seems to be silence from the Muslim community. Christine Douglass-Williams tries to answer that question and many others in her book, The Challenge of Modernizing Islam.

When she was on my radio program, she said the original title talked about reforming Islam. They concluded that wasn’t precise enough. She points out that currently there is a turf war within Islam “between those who seek to reform Islam back to the seventh century and those who seek to reform it to modernity.”

The first part of her book includes interviews she has done with moderate Muslims like Dr. Zudhi Jasser, Dr. Tawfik Hamid, and Raheel Raza. Although I have interviewed some of them, we don’t hear about them in the mainstream media too often because many of them aren’t provided a platform. Of course, we also have to acknowledge that many of them are threatened if they speak out. The subtitle of Christine Douglass-Williams book says it all: “Reformers Speak Out and the Obstacles They Face.”

It is also worth mentioning that not all moderates are reformers. Reformers usually insist that the texts in Islam must be subject to new interpretations. To do so will be difficult. It might mean having to set aside fourteen centuries of interpretation as well as Muslim history.

Most of those interviewed also believe that a Muslim’s attitude toward Israel was a significant factor in determining their Islamist sympathies. “Although one doesn’t have to be a Muslim to dispute Israel’s right to exist,” her chapter explains how classical anti-Semitism has become part of Arab intellectual life.

Her book is a powerful reminder of how hard it would be to bring Islam into the modern world.