Muslim Movements: Born in controversy: The Progressive Muslim Union

Progressing towards a union

They’re mostly young, mostly urban, and they’re tired of the traditional Muslim leadership in North America. They’ve worked on issues of women’s access in mosques, debated homosexuality within Islam, and addressed international issues where Muslims aren’t necessarily on the “good” side. They share with the mainstream Muslim community similar viewpoints on domestic and foreign policy, but part with them when it comes to social issues and religious dogma. And as they finally organize as an international movement, the Progressive Muslim Union does not come without controversy. “[This is] more than just a bunch of Muslim people who just happen to be socially progressive,” said PMU Chair Omid Safi, who is also editor of the book “Progressive Muslims“. “We’re confronting a lot of problematic practices that are part of our faith and our community, while also admitting and acknowledging that there are incredible reservoirs of wisdom for us to draw upon from our faith.” Within parts of the Muslim community, reaction has been mixed – they’ve been attacked from the politically progressive left (mainly for “opening the tent” wide enough to include Republicans and others whose politics don’t toe the line) and from more traditional Muslims (whose main beef is the lack of any defined Muslim identity for group, despite a well-defined “progressive” one). The reaction from major Muslim groups and leaders has been a conspicuous silence, perhaps waiting for more details of PMU’s activities & membership to emerge, and the reaction from outside the Muslim community has been cautiously optimistic at best (although Daniel Pipes already accuses PMU of “apologizing for extremism”). The group’s leaders aren’t letting any of this initial reaction get them down, however. They’re already planning for a national conference at the Harvard Divinity School next March, and are hoping to expand the already-existing “meetups” that happen across the country. “My commitment is to washing the dirty laundry,” says Safi in response to concerns some Muslims have about self-criticism in the post-9/11 era. “As a Muslim community we have issues we need to deal with.”

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.