HAhmed.com

Yesterday, Deenport.com posted a new interview with Dr. Mattson, a leading Muslim American scholar in the US. She will also be preset at the ICNA conference I will be attending tomorrow. Look out for a future blog entry on the conference at the end of this weekend. Meanwhile here are some key quotes from the interview:

Muslim societies have suffered from colonialism, war, occupation and militarization for over a century now. This has made the position of Muslim women in many places worse now than it was in pre-modern times. Perhaps this places a greater responsibility on Muslims living in politically stable societies, like Europe and the United States to do more. However, the cultural assault on traditional values in these societies is also oppressive to women in many ways… We will only survive with a strong connection to God and a determination to stand up for justice within the boundaries of Islam. I often hear (from political and social activists) “there is no peace without justice.” But we also have to remember that “there is no justice without peace (salam).” Women and men need to work together to reclaim our God-given dignity.
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Finally, it is important to remember that all women are not alike. Among the Sahaba, there were women who stayed quietly in their homes teaching and raising their families, and there were bold women in the public sphere, like Umm Amara Nusayba, the warrior of Uhud. We need to make room for all those women in our community to reach their God-given potential within the broad limits of Islam.

American Muslims in particular have an enormous responsibility to live as exemplary Muslims and to demythologize Islam to the American public … Although Muslims in the West bear a great responsibility to disseminate an authentic Islam, we are not necessarily more knowledgeable about Islam or live as better Muslims than those in other parts of the world. Certainly we have been able to shed some negative cultural baggage, but we have not yet replaced it with a positive culture. This society pushes people towards individualism, narcissism and consumerism. Muslim Americans are not doing a great job avoiding these temptations. We need more self-discipline. This is a personal goal for me and for my family.