Pre-Book Review Thoughts
The book and the review
The book in question is Mustafa Akyol’s “Reopening Muslim Minds”, which I had read a couple or so weeks back. So I had intended to do a review, and publish it on myAsylum 2.0, the resurrected blog that I used to actively write on until about 2014.
So, has the review been written? No.
You see, the road to not getting shit done is paved with other more important demands and tasks popping up along the way. But because the review is of a low priority, truth be told, the other more urgent and important stuff needed to get addressed first.
But enough about the why…
So here’s the plan: I will use Medium as a scratchpad to throw out ideas and forms that will eventually morph into the actual review. So that in between doing business-related stuff, when an idea decides to reveal itself, I’ll just pen it here first.
Deal?
So, without further ado, let’s get started.
In the beginning…
At this juncture I’m thinking of starting with how the book opens; it’s an anecdote of what Mustafa Akyol experienced in 2017 when he visited Malaysia to participate in a few panels and talks.
Akyol had published “Islam Without Extremes” back in 2011, and the IRF had since published the Malay translation of the book in 2016. It was the IRF that invited him for the series of talks.
It was during this trip that he became acquainted with our Religious Police who didn’t take too kindly to him quoting “There is no compulsion in religion…” (Quran 2:256) without permission. Because, this is deemed as “teaching Islam” in the eyes of our state Islamic departments, and requires express permission — something along those lines.
This resulted in him being detained, question, and eventually brought before a Shariah Judge. Akyol was eventually released, but about a week later, his 2011 book “Islam Without Extremes” — both the English and Malay versions — were banned by the Malaysian government, on the grounds, according to the Deputy PM at the time, who was also the Home Minister, “many facts in the book which were not suitable to the societal norms here”. The DPM/Home Minister at the time? Zahid Hamidi.
Structure
Because of the massive ground that I think will be covered, the review will focus on the book alone. Then I’ll do a follow up post to address the implications of what’s stated in the book to Malaysia.
Essentially, the book talks about, using Islamic sources to elucidate the author’s points:
- The other less talked about schism in Islam, between the Ashʿari and Muʿtazila views of theology, who won that battle, and how this has had a long-lasting impact on Islam and Muslims. We’re talking, by the way, about something that happened in the 8th century CE
- The oft-mentioned Golden Age of Islam — the state that Muslims today yearn for — and the social makeup of the early empires that contributed to the Golden Age
- What the Islamic world has lost since the Golden Age until this day. Among them, universalism, being on the forefront of science, reasoning, and freedom
Frankly, it’s a lot of stuff to condense. Although the read was relatively easy — all the references and notes pushed to the end of the book to facilitate a smoother read — I think I will have to peruse through the book again, but with more focus on the endnotes.
What the book has done for me
Having read the book, I have a better understanding of why orthodox/traditional Islam today is the way it is, and shines some light on why the Malaysian religious sphere is the way it is; their standpoints and their behavior now make more sense. But by “make more sense”, I’m not saying I agree with them, rather I have a better understanding of why things are the way they are.
It is because of this that I think it’s useful for every Malaysian, regardless of whether one is Muslim or not, to read this book, especially IF you’ve ever been bothered about how and why things are, the way that it’s been bothering me for a long time.
The book is very well researched. Two things set it apart from most books that look at contemporary Islam and its historical roots with such a critical eye: the author is himself a Muslim, and the sources he uses to support his what he writes are sources from Islamic scholars themselves (both classical and contemporary). So one cannot really accuse Mustafa Akyol of furthering orientalist ideas, or worse being an orientalist sock-puppet.
Finally…
I will not make the mistake of promising when the review will materialize. I do have quite a bit of stuff on my plate, exceedingly more urgent than this personal pursuit, which must take priority.
But I think it should happen well before Parliament reconvenes… ha ha…