MF CASR lunch with Sergio Saleem Scatolini

Islamic discourses for balanced, cooperative, and dynamic spiritual ecosystems: it is time for a 'Copernican Turn'

The Copernican Turn decentered Earth and placed its Sun in its place. For as long as the Muḥammadan Muslim community has existed, the Qurʾān has, at least in principle, been at the center of the religious life of people who sought to be Islamic. However, it may not have been the Qurʾān as an event erupting into human socio-political and cultural history but the Prophet – the man, Muḥammad bin ʿAbdillāh – who acted as the hub, and understandably so. After all, we cannot know what the Qurʾān would have been like, had it emerged (or descended) to and through another person (even a non-Ḥijāzi Arab). Going an extra critical mile, one might have to admit that it has been the narrative Prophet, who lived on in the minds of teachers and jurists and on the pages of the Ḥadīth literature, that has been the real center, both a source and an instrument of social capital and power. The weak historical consciousness, the sense of privilege, and the corresponding absence of self-criticism typical of majority communities pulled the Muḥammadan Message away from its Judeo-Christian genealogical tree and made much of the religious discourses evolve around ḥarām and ḥalāl as the key to securing Paradise and avoiding Hellfire. The speaker’s position is that it is high time that we recalibrated our faith-driven mindset. Thinking in terms of balanced, cooperative, and dynamic spiritual ecosystems could help us respond to the challenges we face at the start of the Anthropocene and keep our Islamic discourses firmly anchored on their tawḥīdic (strict monotheistic) core, visibly committed to their inalienable duty to promote justice beyond privilege for all, and honestly open to deal reasonably with epistemological and existential changes.

Please join us in person at the MF Library, or watch on Zoom: https://mf-no.zoom.us/j/64105595003?pwd=S0JpdTIyT1dBcjRwTjg2YzVxdmVRQT09

Zoom Meeting ID: 641 0559 5003

Passcode: MFCASR