I am starting this blog in September 2008, as I will shortly be stepping down as editor of Crescent International and wish to maintain some platform for my writings, musings and observations on whatever I may choose to write about. I will also populate it with copies of some of my earlier writings in due course.
The question is bound to arise... why the title "A sceptical Islamist"?
Number of reasons... most fundamental being that it seems right for me and what I want this blog to convey. "Islamist" because that is what I am, or at least how many people think of me, although I do not particularly like the term. That is to say, I am a Muslim who believes that Islam extends beyond personal religiosity to collective and public values and institutions, including the political.
And "sceptical" because I am that too; not in the dogmatic philosophical sense that insists on doubting absolutely everything, but in the general sense of being inclined to question or look critically at assumptions that people make and things that others take for granted. I am told by people who know me pretty well that that is a dominant aspect of my personality (although I am not entirely convinced of that). But it does seem characteristic of much of what I expect to write for this blog.
Disclaimers:
Considering, however, that people have a tendency to read far more into such phrases than they should, perhaps I should qualify the above explanation in a couple of important ways.
First, by saying that I am an "Islamist", I am not proclaiming my allegiance to al-Qa'ida; or my belief that all unbelievers should be killed; or that we need to recreate the conditions of 7th century Arabia in all Muslim countries today; or that I hate Americans and blame them (or "the West" or Jews) for all the evils in the world; or any of the many other common misperceptions or misrepresentations of what it means to be an "Islamist".
I mean only what I say above; for answers to the questions that raises, please ask me or refer to my writings elsewhere, rather than filling the gaps with assumptions or inventions of your own.
Second, by admitting to be "sceptical", I am not admitting to doubts about Islam or any lack of faith therein. There is no contradiction, whatever some may like to think, between having faith and having a questioning mind. My scepticism, frankly, is usually about people, including Muslims, and if anything I say can be misinterpreted as scepticism about Islam, then you have misunderstood me. (Probably because I am raising questions about some peoples' understandings of Islam, rather than Islam per se.)
For those who cannot grasp such simple distinctions, there may perhaps be little point in reading any more of this blog.
Iqbal Siddiqui
September 8, 2008.
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