Critical-Progressive Muslims: On Islamic hermeneutics, Gender and Interreligious Dialogue

  The Cycle of Supremacy and Opperssion and How to Overcome it     Adis Duderija  In the annals of human history, the struggle against oppression has often taken center stage. From medieval forms of imperialism to (neo)- colonialism, various movements have arisen, championing the rights of the marginalized and the disenfranchised. However, a disconcerting pattern emerges when we observe that those who vehemently oppose one form of imperialistic or supremacist ideology often seek to supplant it with another. This paradox raises significant moral questions about the nature of resistance and the ethics of power dynamics. Are we merely trading one form of domination for another? Or is there a deeper understanding of justice and equity at play?     Imperialism, in its various forms, has historically been characterized by domination whether through military force, economic exploitation, or cultural hegemony. It often involves a powerful entity asserting control over a more vulner

The Many Faces of Totalitarian Rigidity Adis Duderija ( with help of Chat GTP) "Indeed! Totalitarian rigidity has many expressions: intellectual, imaginative, spiritual, social, and political. People can be rigidly totalitarian and so can governments. Their rigidity is rooted in a fear of novelty, of adventure. They seek full control of the world by any means necessary, sometimes through the barrel of a gun and often through intimidation". - Prof. Jay McDaniel, leading process thinker Totalitarianism, a term often evoking images of oppressive regimes, extends far beyond the confines of government action. It permeates intellectual discourse, stifles imaginative expression, constrains spiritual beliefs, and imposes social norms. At its core, totalitarian rigidity is a manifestation of a profound fear of novelty and change. This essay explores how this rigidity takes shape in various aspects of human life and highlights the dangers it poses to freedom, creativity, and ultimately

    Expert Witness Report on Gender Interactions and Women Clothing in the Islamic Tradition    Adis Duderija    The injunctions pertaining to women clothing in the Islamic interpretive tradition and gender relations in general (primarily Islamic jurisprudence known as fiqh) are result of interpretive processes that have taken several centuries to form. What is today considered four mainstream Sunni Islamic schools of law only reached large degree of hermeneutical stability   after over 400 years of juristic and legal methodology reasoning (Hallaq 2004 ; Jackson 2002). Jackson, who uses   a Darwinian metaphor of the survival of the fittest, describes   this process of the formation of mainstream Sunnism   as follows   by the end of the 4th/10th century, the madhhab had emerged as the exclusive repository of legal authority. From this point on, all interpretive activity, if it was to be sanctioned and recognized as authoritative or “orthodox,” would have to take place wit

                        Puritanical Approaches to Islam and    Anti-Muslim Sentiments Adis Duderija   In recent years, anti-Muslim sentiment has witnessed a worrying rise across various parts of the world. While it is essential to acknowledge that multiple factors contribute to this phenomenon, we cannot overlook the role played by puritanical, socially conservative, and politically reactionary approaches to Islam in this respect. These approaches, often characterized by a narrow and heavily textualist   interpretation of religious texts, can lead to the promotion of divisive ideologies and practices that exacerbate anti-Muslim sentiment. Furthermore, the counterproductive nature of essentializing the Other compounds the problem by perpetuating stereotypes and reinforcing divisions between different cultures and religions. In this article I   aim to explore the detrimental effects of such approaches by examining specific examples, including the promotion of exclusivism, gender