March 12-13 – ALTOONA

Penn State Altoona

- “Islam at a Crossroads” Tuesday, March 12, 7:30 p.m. a
- “Turkey at a Crossroads” Wednesday, March 13, 7:30 p.m., in rooms 101-103 Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts.
See: https://www.altoona.psu.edu/now/news.php?value=4019

March 15 – NYC
St. John’s University
- 13.30: Panel on “Turkey’s Kurdish Question”, The D’Angelo Center
- 16.30: Lecture and Book Singing, The D’Angelo Center, Room, 416

March 18 – CLEVELAND
- 12-1.30 pm: ”Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty,” Cleveland State University,  Fenn Tower 303 Ballroom
- 7-8:00 pm: “Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty,” John Carroll University,  Donahue auditorium -Dolan Center for Science and Technology

March 19 – MICHIGAN
- 9 am: – Detroit Rochester College, RC Theatre
- 6:30- 7:30 pm: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

March 20 – COLUMBUS, OH
- 12 pm – 1:30pm: “Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty,” Niagara Foundation Columbus Downtown (21 E State St Ste: 1820, Columbus OH 43215),
- 5pm – 7pm: “Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty,” The Ohio State University Union, Cartoon Room, Ohio Union, (1739 N. High Street Columbus, OH 43210),

March 21- CINCINATI 
- 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm – Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio

✪ Islam Without Extremes was longlisted for the 2012 Lionel Gelber Prize

⇒ READ THE FREE INTRODUCTION CHAPTER (PDF)

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Reviews: Financial Times | Wall Street J. | Kirkus Reviews | Acton Institute | Good Reads

Interviews: NPR | Reuters | NRO | Economist | Religion Dispatches | Washington Times

Mentions: The Economist I | The Economist II | Wall Street Journal | The Dawn

“From furious reactions to the cartoons of Prophet Muhammad to the suppression of women, news from the Muslim world begs the question: is Islam incompatible with freedom? With an eye sympathetic to Western liberalism and Islamic theology, Mustafa Akyol traces the ideological and historical roots of political Islam. The years following Muhammad’s passing in 632 AD saw an intellectual “war of ideas” rage between rationalist, flexible schools of Islam and the more dogmatic, rigid ones. The traditionalist school won out, fostering perceptions of Islam as antithetical to modernity.

 

However, through his careful reexamination of the currents of Muslim thought, Akyol discovers a flourishing of liberalism in the nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire and the unique “Islamo-liberal synthesis” of present-day Turkey. Only by accepting a secular state, he powerfully asserts, can Islamic societies thrive. Persuasive and inspiring, Islam Without Extremes offers a desperately needed intellectual basis for the reconcilability of Islam and religious, political, economic, and social freedoms.” — Publisher (W.W. Norton)

Reviews

“At a time when Muslims’ own understanding and interpretations of Islamic faith and practice have never mattered more, Mustafa Akyol presents a powerful and cogent case on the sources of liberalism and democracy that exist within the faith. In this highly readable and valuable book Akyol cites major events, movements and ideas in Islam little known to non-Muslims–and even to many Muslims–who just assume that the authoritarian and inflexible interpretations of Islam are the ‘real Islam.’ Akyol passionately argues why this isn’t so and raises great hopes for the future evolution of liberal and democratic thought and practice within Muslim society.” — Graham Fuller, author of A World Without Islam

“In a touching and deftly woven personal narrative, Mustafa Akyol illuminates one of the central challenges of East-West relations today: Islam’s adaptation to modernity. He traces a direct line from the enlightened Islamic scholars of the Middle Ages to their counterparts in the contemporary world, underscoring the differences between progressive Islamism and the more controversial strains of political Islam. Throughout this fine book, he incorporates lessons from Turkey–both Ottoman and Kemalist–for other Muslim societies and even the West.” — Parag Khanna, author of The Second World

Mustafa Akyol traces the often forgotten history of liberalism in Islam and provides an intellectual path for liberalization to flourish today. His case is compelling, coming as it does from someone who is both a faithful Muslim and a committed liberal.  This book is a must read for Americans and others of all religious commitments.” — Kris Alan Mauren, Executive Director, Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty

Book Jacket

“Early on a cold January morning in 1981, Mustafa Akyol, then eight-years-old, accompanied his mother to the suburbs of Ankara, Turkey. Together they were visiting Akyol’s father, an outspoken journalist held prisoner in the country’s military barracks. The Turkish military had seized power, and those, like Akyol’s father, who respected Islam were jailed. It was a period of crushing authoritarianism in the name of a secular state.

This experience stayed with Akyol as he finished his studies and became a well-respected journalist and political commentator in Turkey. He continued to wonder: Could the authoritarian regimes in Muslim countries derive not from Islam but from the deep-seated political cultures and social structures endemic to that part of the world? How else to explain the presence of authoritarianism in a secular state, like Turkey, as well as in “Islamic” states such as Iran or Saudi Arabia?

To answer these questions, Akyol, a devout Muslim, turned to both the Qur’an and a diverse array of historical and contemporary scholarship to trace the roots of liberty and tyranny in the world of Islam. In accessible and searching prose, Akyol begins at the very genesis of the religion. According to Akyol’s interpretation, the death of Prophet Muhammed in the seventh century ushered in a “medieval war of ideas”. Some Islamic schools of thought defended reason, freewill, and pluralism. Others promoted a more rigid and dogmatic interpretation of the faith. As the latter camp triumphed, because of the powerful classes of the Orient, a less rational and more static mindset began to shape the region. The more trade declined, Akyol argues, the more the Muslim mind stagnated.

After the 18th century, the ruling elites of the Ottoman Empire, eager to modernize, imported liberal ideas along with institutions from the West, gradually leading to a dawn of “Islamic liberalism.” But Akyol’s historical survey demonstrates that even these valuable efforts to effect change continued as a top-down process in which the majority of the society remained uninvolved. The way to liberal reform was also tragically blocked by the stasis inherent in the socialist and statist models toward which the Muslim world was mistakenly driven in the 20th century.

Yet Akyol finds an important exception in contemporary Turkey. There, a nascent Muslim middle class is reinterpreting religion with a more modern mindset. Slowly, the Turkish people are embracing liberal thought and speaking out for all freedoms. The stage is set for “an experiment unprecedented in the history of Islamdom.”

Islam Without Extremes makes the complex story of liberty in the Muslim world accessible and intriguing, while also putting forth provocative, religious arguments for a secular state, “freedom to sin,” and freedom from Islam. With passion and clarity, Akyol synthesizes liberal ideas and Muslim faith as he powerfully points the way towards an Islam that can make peace with open society. Islam need not “secularize” itself, but rather, can coexist with religious, political, economic, and social freedoms.

Persuasive and inspiring, Islam Without Extremes is a desperately needed intellectual basis for the reconcilability of Islam and liberty.”

In the Room with Mustafa Akyol + Krista Tippett from On Being on Vimeo.

FOR years, foreign policy discussions have focused on the question of whether Islam is compatible with democracy. But this is becoming passé. In Tunisia and Egypt, Islamists, who were long perceived as opponents of the democratic system, are now promoting and joyfully participating in it. Even the ultra-Orthodox Salafis now have deputies sitting in the Egyptian Parliament, thanks to the ballots that they, until very recently, denounced as heresy.

Continue reading »

Watch Mustafa Akyol at TED, arguing for “Islamic liberalism.”

April 4: ATLANTA

12 AM Luncheon: A Conversation with Mustafa Akyol, Callaway Center S-319 Emory University

5:30 PM: Barnes & Noble at Georgia Tech in-store book signing, 48 5th Street, NW Atlanta, GA 30308

April 5: ATHENS

5.30 PM: Lecture and book signing, University of Georgia, Miller Learning Center Room 250

April 6: ATLANTA

Dinner, lecture and book signing, at Istanbul Cultural Center, Alpharetta Branch

April 8: MIAMI

Dinner, lecture and book signing, Anatolia Cultural Center, Miami

April 9: MIAMI

10 AM: Panel at Middle East Studies Center at Florida International University

Luncheon and panel at Florida Atlantic University & Florida State College

April 10: ATLANTA

11:30 AM: Midtown Luncheon Series Program, “Media Freedom in Turkey,” Istanbul Center, Midtown 1349 w Peachtree St, Atlanta 30309

April 11: SOUTH CAROLINA

11 AM: Lecture, book signing and luncheon at Walker Institute, University of South Carolina

6 PM: Dinner, lecture and book signing at Thurmond Institute, Clemson University

April 12: DALLAS

6:30 PM: Lecture and book signing at the The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture

April 13: OKLAHOMA CITY

9:00 AM: Lecture and book signing at Pegasus Theatre, Liberal Arts Building at University of Central Oklahoma

10:45 AM: Lecture and book signing at Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Avenue, Norman, OK 73019, University of Oklahoma

6:00 PM: Lecture and book signing at the Kerr McGee auditorium in the Meinders School of Business Oklahoma City University

April 14: WICHITA, KANSAS CITY

Lecture and book signing at Wichita State University

April 15: HOUSTON

April 17: SAN FRANCISCO

10:15 AM: Lecture and book signing at Los Altos Morning Forum

April 19: NEW YORK CITY

Evening lecture at NYU, details to be announced

April 20, NEW YORK CITY

2:00 – 4:00 PM: Lecture, discussion and book signing at Columbia University’s main campus in Hamilton Hall, room 702 (7th floor)

Last week, during a book tour in London, I spoke to a large group of British Muslims on Islam and liberty. A few of the questions that I received from the audience indicated why discussion on this topic is much needed. “If the state gives the people the freedom to do what they want, then they will follow their temptations,” said one Pakistani gentleman. “That’s why the Saudi religious police, which you oppose, is a very good system.”

Continue reading »

Tuesday 22nd November

6.30 pm: Talk at CAABU (The Council for Arab-British Understanding), “Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty,”  Houses of Parliament, Committee Room Ten

Wednesday 23rd November

12.30 pm: A talk at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), “Is Islam incompatible with freedom?,” 2 Lord North Street, London, SW1 (door on Great Peter Street)

5 pm: Talk at the University of Warwick, “Islam and Liberty,” Maths and Stats Building MS.05

Thursday 24th November

6.30 pm: Talk at the London School of Economics Hayek Society.

Friday 25th November

4.00 pm: Talk at Westminster University, “Current Situation of Kurdish Issue in Turkey: Liberal Response,” 309 Fyvie Hall Theatre – Regent Street Campus, W1B2UW

6.30 pm: Talk at City Circle, “Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty,” Abrar House, 45 Crawford Place, W1H 4LP.

Charlie Hebdo, a satirical French magazine, recently became much more famous than it ever was. Early this month, it came out with a provocative issue whose cover presented a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad, and the headline, “100 lashes if you don’t die laughing.” Shortly afterwards, the offices of the magazine were firebombed, and its website got hacked.

Luckily, no one died. But this incident underlined a recurrent conflict between European notions oreportedly, by a group of Turkish Muslims.f free speech and the Islamic notions of the sacred. The pro-Charlie Hebdodemonstrators that gathered outside Paris City Hall last Sunday were expressing one side of that dilemma by declaring their “right to blaspheme.” Even mainstream Muslim organizations, however, have long been arguing for laws against blasphemy.

Do we have an irreconcilable gap, then, between Islam and free speech?

I am sure many, among both Muslims and Westerners, would readily say “yes” to this question, but I am not one of them. I rather propose a different answer by differentiating between the moral and the legal spheres.

Let me explain. The problem with some of Europeans who declare their “right to blasphemy” is that they are asking from Muslims to abandon their respect for the sacred. “Learning to take a joke is part of living in Western society,” writes a commentator on the web. “Nothing is sacred here — get used to it.”

But, well, no. Neither Muslims nor other believers will “get used to” the idea that nothing is sacred. A sense of the sacred is the very thing that makes them believers. And, as Nietzsche once put it well, the sacred is whatever it is in a culture at which one cannot laugh.

However, having a sense of the sacred is one thing, forcing others to respect it, by law or brute force, is another. And while no Muslim worthy of his name would lose his respect for God, the Prophet Muhammad, and other symbols of Islam, he might well refrain from using legal prosecution or violent reaction to those who do not show the same respect.

My basis for this claim is nothing other than the holiest source of Islam, the Quran. The most relevant verse on this topic, the one that tells Muslims what to do in the face of mockery of their faith, reads as follows:

“When you hear God’s revelations disbelieved in and mocked at, do not sit with them until they enter into some other discourse; surely then you would be like them.” (4:140)

As I explain in my book, in my chapter on “Freedom from Islam,” what we see suggested here is a civilized form of disapproval: Muslims are not supposed to be a part of a discourse that mocks Islam. But all they have to do is to stay away from it. And even then, that is only until the discourse changes. Once mockery ends, dialogue can restart. (By the way, this verse is from a “Medinan” chapter. It, in other words, comes from a later phase in which Muslims had military power, and thus it can’t be explained away as resulting from necessity.)

If we apply the spirit of this verse to the modern world, we can say that Muslims can boycott anti-Islamic rhetoric by refusing to join conversations, buying newspapers and magazines, or watching films and plays that mock the values of their faith. But that’s it. Disapproving and boycotting is the Quranic thing to do, whereas violence and threats are not.

So, if I were a French Muslim, I would end my subscription to Charlie Hebdo, if I had one. I would also express that I found their cartoons about Prophet Muhammad disrespectful to the Muslim community. But that’s it. The violent attack on the magazine cannot be justified or tolerated. And its “right to blasphemy” cannot be countered by anything other than a peaceful stance for the sacred.