Hi fading! You're the first one on this thread to actually discuss Nomani, we were all commenting on Aslan, Hitchens, Harris etc. So thanks.
Meh. Another one. The problem is that people like Nomani and Manji and even Reza Aslan have little to no credibility with actual Muslims. Who is their audience, who are the ones they are speaking to? It's not Muslims. Asra Nomani had nothing to do with her masjid before she went in there trying to change things and creating a national firestorm. Yes, she embarrassed some Wahabee students, yay, clap, but she also embarrassed and humiliated a lot of women in that community and men who had nothing to do with that one awful khutbah and who were actually regular mosque going members of that community.
Partially agree. Nomani claims in her book, "Standing Alone in Mecca" that she didn't even know which century Islam started, before getting knocked up by some guy in Lahore & examining what Islam has to say about single moms.
And she wasn't a regular mosque goer before starting her campaign of allowing women into mosques. But she has faced segregation at home, in her book she writes about how much she enjoyed Diwali(the Hindu festival of lights) in her Indian immigrant community where she beat all the boys at wrestling, and hated the Muslim festivals for their strict sex segregation, where men would discuss politics outside, & the women & girls would sit in the kitchen as prisoners.
Also, unfortunately, a lot of people like Nomani don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to Islamic sources for what they're saying. They're saying nice things, but you won't convince the people who need to be convinced if you can't back it up. It's not the irreligious gas station owner or the liberal white Sufi guy who has a girlfriend who have to change, and it's not the non Muslims paying you to come talk at their uni. If you want to change or reform Islam, you need to show that you've studied Quran, Sunnah, and the rest of it, even if you reject the current structure of Shariah. Khaled Abou El Fadl is the only reformer I can think of who has these sort of creds to stand on, but he's such an ivory tower sort, that it's hard to think that he'll have an influence over your average person.
Again, you're right. Nomani isn't an Islamic scholar, she lacks an indepth study & for real change, that sort of thorough knowledge is of paramount importance. To many devout Muslims, she's just a s*** who had a kid outside marriage, and now wants to corrupt other pious Muslimahs & slander Islam in the eyes of the West.
Nomani writes about her encounter with Khaled Abou El Fadl in her book. Even she complains that El Fadl is inaccessible.
So overall, I think they have little impact and the influence, such as it is, of progressive Muslims already started declining three years ago. Also, a lot of them seem to have issues with honesty and being forthcoming about things. Asra Nomani got caught out in a big lie a few years ago about her family and so did Hirsi Ali. This damages their credibility in the eyes of Muslims and makes it easier to dismiss them altogether.
True. Hirsi Ali lied a lot of times, including about her reason to seek asylum & Nomani claimed she's 19th century Indian Islamic scholar Shibli Nomani's descendant, which is a lie again. Why does Islam have the misfortune of having terrorists as its champions & liars as its most progressive women?
That does damage their credibility.
However, if Islam doesn't reform, there are bleak days ahead for both Muslims & their neighbours. Maybe Nomani types could start a Reform Judaism kinda Islam, where women pray with men, marry outside the faith & even have kids without marriage, OR Islam is incapable of surviving that kind of change.
Topic: What do you think of this reformer Asra Nomani?