Islam in Liberalism

‘Sexual misery’ or ‘happy British Muslims’?: Contemporary depictions of Muslim sexuality

“…Indeed, these claims have reached beyond their most obvious home -right-wing and populist British print newspapers such as the Times and Daily Mail -to permeate more liberal-identified voices, including that of the former New Labour Home Secretary and Blackburn MP Jack Straw. This observation resonates with Joseph Massad's argument that Islamophobia and liberalism are not mutually exclusive; on the contrary, he argues, they are mutually constitutive (Massad, 2015; see also Phillips, 2016). Commenting on the conviction of two rapists in 2011, Straw asserted:…”

“…In other words, Muslims constructed as 'good' are those who conform to Western understandings of happiness, who have given up their heritage and community in favour of individualism, believe religion should be relegated to the private sphere, and are unequivocally in favour of liberal democracy. Within this Eurocentric discursive logic, the 'good Muslim' is the exception that proves the rule since, as Joseph Massad (2015) persuasively argues, Islam is constructed as liberalism's 'other'. From this perspective, the 'bad Muslim' comes to be seen as Islam's true face and the 'good Muslim' is viewed as an aberration (Shryock, 2010).…”

“…This interrogation should include a critical examination of commercially driven publishers which encourage works that engage with emerging but unstable genres such as 'Muslim chick lit'. Critics should also look for literary works that may be located within, as well as against, dominant discourses, such as the Western and arguably neo-colonial liberal discourse that gives rise to binary characterisations of good and bad Muslims (Massad, 2015).…”

Reflections on Islamic studies in interreligious contexts1

“…The discussions marking and evaluating different societies according to the rights they accord their women and other minorities is now extended to sexual minorities, which Massad, Puar, and others have written about so brilliantly (see Puar 2007 and Massad 2015). Focusing on legal categories at the level of the state alone often misses out on accounting for the great diversity of lived experience, and hence the importance of looking at both.…”

Reporting on selective voices of ‘resistance’: Secularism, class and ‘Islamist’ rap

“…However, including in this group rappers who have never associated themselves with any form of political group that refer to themselves as Islamist is highly problematic, particularly in Morocco where political parties are generally discredited and perceived as weak (Cavatorta, 2006: 208;Cohen and Jaidi, 2006: 72 Charity group over the past 20 years poses to Moroccan ruling elites including secular liberal groups (Cavatorta, 2006: 216-217 (Brown, 2012;Mahmood, 2009;Massad, 2015;Nussbaum, 2012), existing reports reveal that Islam continues to be framed in such a manner. Scholars such as Cavatorta (2006), Gutkowski (2013) and Massad (2015) continue to denounce the hegemony of European liberalism in shaping secularism as democratic, liberal, progressive and tolerant, in opposition to Islam considered as undemocratic, uncivil, immoral, and extremist. 39 Muslim's condemnation of female exploitation is therefore not portrayed as progressive because he is already framed as Islamist and thus backward and uncivil.…”