There are millions of atheists and agnostics of Muslim heritage. How should we define or classify these individuals-- as heretics? Ex-Muslims? "Nothing?"
I suggest we call them Humanistic Muslims. Picture this: a sect of Muslims who are proud of their great culture and civilization which dates back fifteen centuries and beyond, who read Muslim religious texts as great human literature, and who come together in inspiring, service-oriented communities called Mosques; but who openly affirm evolution, secularism, and universal human equality regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, or religious background.
Picture a proudly self-identifying Muslim affirming the notion that only human beings, not a deity, can determine what makes an ethical and moral life. To some, this may seem like a series of oxymorons, one stranger or more offensive than the next. But I’d suggest that if we can imagine it, we might discover a path towards peace and real dialogue among religions, cultures, and civilizations.
At a conference called "The New Humanism" at Harvard this past April, I had the privilege of organizing a discussion between novelist Sir Salman Rushdie and Rabbi Sherwin Wine, founder of the international movement called Humanistic Judaism. Wine, tragically, died last weekend-- his obituary appears in The New York Times and elsewhere. But for 40 years Wine successfully built a worldwide network of congregations called the Society for Humanistic Judaism: Jews celebrating Jewish culture heritage without worshiping any god or supernatural entity.
It was fascinating to see Rushdie and Wine interact. The former carefully stated he did not come to their dialogue as a representative of Islam, because he is not a "believer." But Rushdie allowed that in his childhood, it was taken for granted that there can be such a thing as cultural or secular Muslim. Rushdie himself was raised as one, and his name's origin traces back to the great medieval Muslim philosopher Ibn Rushd, who powerfully challenged rigid understandings of Islam, and also helped preserve Aristotelian philosophy for the West, when Christendom was neglecting the great Greek thinkers. Rushdie reminded us of the great secular political movements in the Arab/Muslim world just 50 years ago: Turkey, Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon, Pakistan all claim strong secularist threads in their histories. Muslim identity goes far beyond supernaturalist beliefs about Allah and Muhammad to include the culture, literature, food, music, poetry, political struggles and collective memories of a great historical people.
In Rushdie and Wine, we saw two great men from incredibly different backgrounds. Neither was able to leave their Jewish or Muslim culture entirely behind; indeed is such a thing possible? Yet in theology or ethics, both spoke the common language of Humanism, and in it were united. Dignified in their differences, yet finding the basis for common covenant.
If Humanistic Islam, like the Humanistic Judaism I practice, is an oxymoron, then I am proud to be a walking oxymoron and I invite my non-religious Muslim sisters and brothers to walk with me.
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