Michael Birkel and Abdur-Rahman Abou Almajd about Qur'an in Conversation

Michael Birkel and Abdur-Rahman Abou Almajd about Qur'an in Conversation.                                             

 We have a fresh opportunity to reflect about the Qur'an  in Conversation, At this point Professor Michael Birkel isn't going to speak only on his views on Qur'an in Conversation but he also speaks about the Qur'an as an American's scripture too.                                             

Michael Birkel

He is professor of Religion, Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana. He is amember of the Religious Society of Friends and director of the school's Newlin Center.

He teaches courses related to all of the Abrahamic religions: Christianity, Judaism and Islam. He is widely published, particularly on topics related to Quaker thought. Michael has collaborated on several research projects with students.

Q: First of all, I wonder what made you focus on the Qur'an?

MB: My goal in this book was first to understand my Muslim neighbors and then to share that understanding with my readers, most of whom would be other-than-Muslim. Since the Qur'an is so central to the faith of Islam and because it is so little known by people outside the ummah, I chose to meet with Muslim scholars and religious leaders to invite them to talk with me about a passage of their choosing from their holy book. Because the Qur'an is so precious to Muslims, the conversations that I had were very profound and very moving. The focus on the Qur'an allowed me to be a grateful guest in your faith.

 Q : Yes, The focus on the Qur'an allowed you to be a grateful guest in our faith, no doubt you read the Qur'an many times, I wonder which sura /chapter or ayah that affected you greatly.

MB: There are too many to name. There is the great tenderness of al-Duha (93), the cataclysmic urgency of al-Takwir (81), and the call to care for the marginalized in al-Ma‘un (107). There is the providential care in the story of Yusuf (12) and the beckoning mystery of al-Khidr in al-Kahf (18). As a result of what I learned from my Muslim conversation partners in Qur’an in Conversation, so much more of the Qur’an has been opened for me, and I am thankful to these teachers.

Q: Qur'an in Conversation demonstrates a wide spectrum of interpretation and diversity of approaches in reading Islam's scripture, I want to know how this list is chosen.

MB: I had heard that for centuries among Muslims, a diversity of opinion was regarded as a divine blessing. It was my hope that the book would suggest the range of interpretation that I found among North American Muslims. So I invited Sunni and Shi‘i scholars, women and men, and persons of different ancestral background, including African American, Middle Eastern, South Asian heritage, as well as converts to Islam from European-American ancestry. I also hoped that my Muslim teachers in this project would reveal some diversity in theological or methodological approaches to the Qur’an, so that non-Muslim readers of the book could see the richness of the intellectual and spiritual vitality of Muslims in North America.

Q: Could you elaborate on how Qur'an in Conversation encourages non-specialists and Muslim scholars alike to imagine how the Qur'an will be interpreted among North American Muslims?

MB: The book is written in such a way that non-specialists can understand the content of each conversation. All Arabic terms are translated, for example. My Muslim conversation partners in the book proved to be excellent explainers of their deen. Very frequently, the conversations were much more than intellectual alone. The spiritual lives of my Muslims teachers came into presence with great warmth. Non-Muslim readers can, for example, feel the great affection and love that Muslims have for their Prophet, may the peace and blessing of God be upon him.

As for scholars of Islam who will read this volume, the book shows them their peers in the exquisite task of reading their shared sacred text.

Finally, the book suggests ways in which the Qur’an will be interpreted in the future in that many of the scholars in this book are relatively young. These Muslims are rising in importance in the Muslim community, and as they grow in influence, they will help to shape the interpretation of the Qur’an in the years and decades to come.

Q: Qur'an in Conversation presents an outstanding collection of interviews giving voice to a wide range of diverse contemporary North American Muslim individuals as they speak, I wonder why you chose these and left the others.

MB: As a sympathetic outsider, I began this project with a visit to the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Islam has no central, authoritative institution comparable to the Catholic Vatican, but ISNA is a gathering place for many who might be called mainstream Muslims on this continent. I met with the Secretary General of ISNA to explain my proposed project, and I wanted to offer him the opportunity to ask me questions—or even to veto the project, if he did not approve. We spoke, and he offered his full support for the project. He asked about whom I might invite, and I shared a preliminary list with him. He spoke of those names approvingly. This helped me to feel that, first of all, this was a project that could be of service to the Muslim community and, second, my choices for potential participants were largely drawn from the mainstream of the North American ummah. It was my hope that this would be a book in which North American Muslims would recognize themselves. If one purpose of the book was to help the reader to understand North American Muslims, then it would not be useful if the majority of the Muslims in the book were atypical.

As an outsider, I felt that I came to earn the trust of those with whom I spoke. I gained a reputation as a respectful listener among many Muslims.

The voices gathered in this book came together by my effort and by divine providence—not necessarily in that order. I invited some fifty Muslim leaders and scholars to participate, knowing that many of them were very busy people and would not have the time or in the inclination to speak with a stranger. By the grace of God, twenty-five said “yes,” and they are included in the book.

Q: In your opinion how the Qur'an should be shown to see an American's scripture

MB: Professor Omid Safi, an important leader among Muslims scholars here, kindly endorsed the book with these words: “Here for the first time we have the Qur’an being read by a wide range of contemporary American Muslim leaders and intellectuals. It provides us with a rich opportunity to see the Qur’an become an American's scripture.”

Islam has flourished in many cultures. While all Muslims have much in common about their faith, they have also expressed their Islam in a variety of ways. The current generation of Muslim leaders and intellectuals are finding ways to express their faith within the context of North American culture in rich and exciting ways. This books bears witness to the creativity and brilliance of North American Muslims. The Qur’an gives them life, and the Qur’an comes to life among them.

Q: I know you aren’t an apologist for the Qur’an in any sense, your aim is understanding and explanation rather than advocacy or attack, most English-language scholarship on the Qur’an either adheres to the forbiddingly technical norms of Orientalist scholarship or else serves an apologetic or polemical theological agenda. What is the best way of introducing readers to the Qur’an?

MB: The Qur’an contains great beauty and power, but it expresses itself in a way that is unfamiliar to newcomers. The logic of its arrangement is not immediately apparent to an outsider, for example. Many find it best to begin at the end, that is, to start by reading the early revelations found in the final suras. When I am reading someone else’s sacred text, I find it enormously helpful to have a reading companion—someone who knows the book intimately and can guide me into its treasures. I feel that this book. Qur’an in Conversation, offers an extraordinary array of reading companions who can open this holy book to those encountering it for the first time.

Q : I remember what happened in 2002, when professor Carl Ernst  recommended Michael Sells’ Approaching the Qur’an and a controversy erupted, a lot of people were furious, There was even a lawsuit to force UNC to abandon its selection, I want to know although there are many translations which of them you prefer to Americans.

MB: Michael Sells’ translation is a great introduction to the beauty of the early Meccan revelations. In my teaching, I often use M. A. S. Abdel Haleem’s translation, which I admire for its precise attention to the meaning of Arabic words at the time when the Qur’an was revealed. I also appreciate Tarif Khalidi’s translation for its care for both faithfulness to the original Arabic and his concern to convey the literary qualities of the Qur’an—what scholars of literature would call diction and register. Finally, I know that there is a new translation coming, edited by Professor Maria Dakake (who is in my book) and others, that will offer a fresh rendering of the Arabic and include a rich selection from classical tafsir. I look forward to its publication.

Abdur-Rahman: Thank you very much, my friend Michael.

MB: It was a pleasure to be your guest.