Patheos Welcomes Ro Waseem and Quranalyze It

Last summer a young Muslim guy got in touch with me via social media, looking to see if Altmuslim or Patheos Muslim could publish some of his articles. He sent me a link to his blog, Quranalyze It, and proceeded to send me messages upon messages, picking my brain on publishing, analytics, what I and other editors look for in articles, how to get published on various sites (to which I had to say – hey my friend, no offense but why would I tell you how to get published on Huffington Post Religion or The Islamic Monthly when they are my rivals, so to speak?) and many other things.

This guy is eager, I thought, and dedicated to what he believes. We kept in touch over the next several months, and I watched his pieces get on HuffPo Religion as well as what he was publishing on his own blog. I always keep an eye out for good writers with strong voices, writers who are dedicated and consistent and above all, passionate and honest in their work.

Ro Waseem proved himself to be all that.

And so we discussed things back and forth and mutually decided that it would be awesome for him and great for Patheos Muslim to bring his blog, Quranalyze It, to the channel. As our channel grows with diverse and vibrant voices, I’m excited to see the learning, sharing, disagreeing and growing together — vertically deep into our faith and horizontally across the faith channels. I’m finding that I personally don’t agree with all the thoughts, opinions and voices on the channel I’m in charge of, but I appreciate the diversity of voices and chance to respectfully agree and disagree on matters of Muslim faith, spirituality and beyond.

So check out Ro’s blog and weigh in on his posts, including his latest, which lists 15 Progressive Islamic Facebook Pages You Should Check Out! And here is some more information from Ro himself, about himself and his blog (I asked him to write in third person — he didn’t choose to do that!):

Ro Waseem identifies himself as a Reformist Muslim, and is currently studying ACCA. Having had a passion for writing since he was a child, he found his blog, Quranalyze It, in January 2014; and has since contributed his articles to several websites such as Huffington Post, On Faith, Tikkun & Express Tribune. 

His prime purpose behind the blog, as the name evidently suggests, is to encourage Muslims to re-establish a meaningful relationship with the Quran by pondering over its message, instead of reciting it in a foreign language to earn blessings. 

He maintains that Islam as enshrined in the Quran is very different from the Islam that is advocated by Islamic theocracies and self-serving Mullahs. Hence, he seeks to clear popular misconceptions about Islam and actively challenges the passive mentality that condones irrationality & a breach of fundamental human rights just because it is presented in the guise of Islam.  In his words, “Being an independent and a critical thinker is one of the most important traits of a Muslim.”

His approach towards Islam might be considered as a bit unorthodox by others, which is primarily centered on the Quran. Others sources are, of course, secondary – which should be adopted so long as they do not contradict the Quran or add further legislation to it. 

As a humble student of the Quran, he believes that Quran, without any ambiguity, promotes freedom of expression & belief; and has written against the infamous blasphemy & apostasy laws that have plagued Islam as an intolerant belief system.

He humbly urges Muslims to recognize diversity as one of the many gifts of God, rather than feeling threatened by it. Furthermore, he argues that instead of focusing on trivialities, Muslims must try to achieve unity and put an end to the violent & Takfir-based sectarianism.