And on the same thread.
Feb. 19th, 2011 09:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akilanajmahAmina Wadud said to me once something along the lines of "They would never accept that (a non-hyperbolic reading of the Qur'an) if it was said by a believer."
And I have to wonder how much of, say, Dr. Ingrid Mattson's election to head the Islamic Society of North America was related to her being a more palatable face of Islam post 9/11-- i.e. they wouldn't have listened to this reasonableness if it came from a Pakistani American or an African American or an Algerian American or any Brown American with perhaps a more ethnic name; and I wonder how much of it was because she was a nice white lady and how much of it was because she'd really put in the work.
I feel, obviously, that there are elements of all three, but I'll never know.
(I heard Dr. Mattson speak last night and while somewhat unimpressed with her speaking style there were lots of people in the audience who heard her and were jumping up and down about it. Just thinking aloud.)
And I have to wonder how much of, say, Dr. Ingrid Mattson's election to head the Islamic Society of North America was related to her being a more palatable face of Islam post 9/11-- i.e. they wouldn't have listened to this reasonableness if it came from a Pakistani American or an African American or an Algerian American or any Brown American with perhaps a more ethnic name; and I wonder how much of it was because she was a nice white lady and how much of it was because she'd really put in the work.
I feel, obviously, that there are elements of all three, but I'll never know.
(I heard Dr. Mattson speak last night and while somewhat unimpressed with her speaking style there were lots of people in the audience who heard her and were jumping up and down about it. Just thinking aloud.)
