God, uh excuse me, Ali Eteraz has Spoken

Ali Eteraz has declared Progressive Islam "dead."

I guess we should board up the windows and close up shop. I'll call Kecia Ali, Omid Safi and Ebrahim Moosa and let them know. Someone call Naeem Jeenah over in South Africa and Abdennur Prado in Spain, the world needs to know! An American blogger has decided it is all over! Sheesh, we all thought we were in this for the long haul. We really should have asked Ali Eteraz about it first.

Forgive the sarcasm, but I feel a bit like the Geico cavemen: "Sorry we couldn't get those changes to you sooner!" I recall when PMU first got together one member said that everything we do will be for 3 generations from now, maybe longer.

Because many of us who would call ourselves "prog" or "prog-oriented" are also traditionally oriented, we do not typically support revolutionary action, but rather support working with the tradition towards revealing its best practices that we can all live with while continuing to push each other in a healthy way on those issues that remain difficult.

For example, right now we could all agree to have a mosque that is:

• arranged men and women side by side with a tall screen between the two sides (screens can be attractive, japanese rice paper?)
• a male imam who stands in front of the men but all the way to the center of the room, so that he is nearly in front of the women (since he does not look behind him while praying, no modesty worries there. Because the imam turns during the dua toward the congregation, the women's area should be on the other side)
• a female khatib who delivers sermons on Friday (visible or not) and also takes part in the daily religious guidance of the community.

All of this is traditionally legal now with respect to considering "best practices." Obviously, there would be naysayers on each end of the spectrum. But the point is that this arrangement is legally permissible right now. We could all live with it. It would transform our communites into a welcoming inclusive environment that would properly honor both men and women.

This is traditionally legal now. It only takes commitment to each other to make it happen.

Nakia Jackson has called this model "shared authority." It is a good term because it best expresses the intention that not only can men and women work together, but also muslims who do not otherwise agree can work together. We can all share in the salat. If satan cannot come between us in salat, we will not be broken as an umma.

On the difficult issues, such as female imams or other matters we will continue to debate and push each other. But I hope we do this as an umma. I also hope that both sides will be willing to change their minds. I declare, wallahi, I am open to changing my mind on any issue. I could hardly claim to be traditionally oriented and committed to the umma if I were not willing to honestly consider all perspectives. God willing, other Muslims would be willing to the same.

Still living, breathing, writing, teaching, and calling myself Progressive.