Joseph Andoni Massad is Professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History in the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University. His academic work has focused on Palestinian, Jordanian, and Israeli nationalism.
Excellent academic exposition on -isms under the umbrella of liberalism in juxtaposition to islam from antiquity to postmodern era, in the context of history, politics, NGO鈥檚 and global intellectual efforts. Written in the same vain of -and highly influenced by- Edward Said鈥檚 鈥楥overing Islam鈥�.
The book presents an approach that raises the question of Islam in European liberal thought since the 18th century. The first question the book raises is about the nature of Islam, although there is a terminological dilemma surrounding the name, and it often comes with many unclear meanings. For example, sometimes 鈥淚slam is presented as the Quran, and sometimes it can mean the Sunnah or the Hadith, but at other times it means Islamic countries.鈥� In its five chapters, the book analyzes the process of producing a democratic Europe and an authoritarian Islam. The author's second chapter also analyzes the process of producing European women as 鈥渢he luckiest women in the world and Muslim women as the most oppressed.鈥� women in the world.鈥�
Rating: 4.25/5. Would've given it a higher rating if not for the limitations I name below.
I wrote the following as a book report for my modern Islamic political thought class. It rides the line of spoiler summary + thoughts, esp around the book's strengths and weaknesses, so I decided to paste it here:
In Islam In Liberalism, Joseph Massad confronts what is often referred to, categorized as, and otherwise considered the Other: Islam. Conceptualized as the antithesis to the 鈥榤odern鈥� liberal West, Islam has historically been and continues to be imbued with an array of qualities, not least including notions of despotism, intolerance, misogyny, homophobia, and more. Massad, a professor of modern Arab politics and intellectual history, seeks to challenge such an imagination. He argues that Islam 鈥渋s an internal constituent of liberalism, not merely as an external other, though liberalism often projects it as the latter.鈥� It is precisely the idea of projection that scaffolds Massad鈥檚 argument, as he explains that 鈥渢he emergence of 鈥淓urope鈥� was predicated on a series of projections, disavowals, displacements, and expulsions鈥� in the pursuit of a coherent self that was properly cleansed of those peoples, qualities, ideas, and value systems which it did not wish to identify with. In that respect, that which is displaced and projected onto 鈥淚slam鈥� ultimately says more about western liberalism than it does about Islam in itself. In other words, it reveals more about the anxieties and inconsistent commitments of the liberal West than it does about Islam as a tradition. In addition to this, Massad troubles the supposedly secular quality of western liberal thought, tracing out the religious (specifically protestant) geneology of liberalism. With this, he illustrates the 鈥榤issionary impulse鈥� that lives within liberalism鈥攁 self-ascribed universalism that aims to remake the world in the image of protestant Christianity. Massad also instructs us to be wary about how such proselytizing occurs, pointing to the power-laden nature of translation and the different ways translation occurs through liberalism. Here, Massad expands on translation as a project of assimilation, wound up in uneven power relations within which ideas and value systems are not translated as much as they are made intelligible to liberalism, opening the way for the application and overwhelming of liberal concepts and categories onto other contexts unfamiliar with them.
By my lights, Islam In Liberalism is a powerful text. It confronts the question of what Islam is鈥攐ne that we鈥檝e been thinking about since the beginning of our course鈥攁nd tackles it from a different angle. Similar to how Talal Asad鈥檚 idea of Islam as a discursive tradition gave us more of the form rather than content of Islam, Massad鈥檚 idea of Islam(s) as a constituent of western liberalism forces us to worry less about the essential contents of whatever Islam actually is, instead focusing on Islam as a mirror for the historical identity-formation of liberal Europe. In a way, it鈥檚 drawn me to revisit how I鈥檝e questioned and tried to define what Islam is, particularly how I鈥檝e attempted to, as someone with a complicated and lengthy relationship with Islam, sort out what 鈥淚slam鈥� accepts and what it doesn鈥檛. Reading the third chapter was a particularly challenging instance of this for me. Massad鈥檚 analysis of 鈥渟exuality,鈥� 鈥渉omosexuality,鈥� and 鈥渜ueerness鈥� as not universal nor necessarily universalizable struck me as accurate and grounded in a kind of historical honesty that may be hard to deliver, especially given how committed many of us under western liberalism find ourselves to such ideas. More pointedly, as one of the co-founders of a queer Muslim group, I鈥檝e encountered criticisms of the idea of queerness and homosexuality as not quite 鈥渂elonging to鈥� Islam. In fact, I鈥檝e had conversations with other queer Muslims who worry that campaigns around queerness in Islam may be tied to wider projects of reform that demand that Muslims and 鈥淚slam鈥� shed more parts of themselves than otherwise imagined. Especially given Massad鈥檚 focus on how Muslims or those of Muslim background can nonetheless participate in the project of western liberal imperialism, I鈥檓 left to ask myself if the language and ideas I attach to the work I do serve the ends I seek to pursue. I鈥檓 resigning myself from discarding the terms entirely鈥攑erhaps because there is a part of myself that finds value or a sweeping resonance with ideas of queerness and what they bring to people鈥攂ut I鈥檓 left asking what kinds of language and conversations I can turn to that are more capacious and local to the experiences of other Muslims.
Moreover, when I first began reading, I found myself wondering if Massad could have provided a more explicit definition of liberalism. Mentally, I understood that he was less so interested in liberalism as it specifically is but rather how it performs and presents itself, but it took me some time to more directly engage with what that meant. The point seemed to be to recognize that the ties between liberalism as Massad develops it and liberalism as a tradition strictly tied to John Locke or Adam Smith or some such philosophers are not entirely clear. It appears that liberalism lives within and travels between forms of ideology, morality, and hegemony, forming an atmosphere of thought and action in the world. Similar to how people speak about rationalism and capitalism as 鈥渢he air we breathe,鈥� liberalism occupies a similar position. Islam In Liberalism is dedicated to drawing this out, forcing us to grapple with what feels like slippage, struggling to pin down and discretely define liberalism. I believe the experience of having read the book and re-read various sections forced me to confront this idea in ways that went beyond mere acknowledgment, which I believe is a strength. However, it鈥檚 worth saying that I retain some of that discomfort. I still find myself wondering if there was a more cogent way to define liberalism while simultaneously creating this experience of slippage. Massad does offer us with a number of referents, including ideas of individualism, protestant christianity that nonetheless lives in a supposedly secular tradition, sexuality, and more, but I still wonder if something clearer could have been provided. This may not be a deep problem, perhaps not a problem at all, but I thought it was worth noting.
Furthermore, the text seems more clearly limited when it comes to its style and structure. To elaborate, parts of the text read like a kind of stream-of-consciousness writing piece. I don鈥檛 say that in a polemical tone, either, nor do I say it to argue that the arguments come across poorly or that the ordering of the chapters was nonsensical; in fact, I considered his arguments and chapter-orderings to be very convincing and compelling. Perhaps it was a kind of repetition or lack of succinctness about the flow of paragraphs and arguments, but it sometimes felt like the text was getting lost in itself. It鈥檚 worth noting that this may reveal more about myself than it does the text; perhaps it is my lack of an engagement with literature of this kind and the audiences to which it speaks that conditions my struggle with its style. Intuitively, though, I wished for it to be tighter in its internal progression. To add to this, it sometimes felt like the text was bursting at the seams because of its footnotes. In a majority of cases, these footnotes were instructive, but there were a number that were staggeringly large and quite focused on tackling the details of other scholars鈥� arguments鈥攁n effort that I could understand but did not necessarily consider useful for the flow of the text.
To close, it seems that one of the text鈥檚 strengths鈥攖he discomfort it breeds within readers as we encounter the boundaries of our own thought as it is influenced by western liberalism鈥攁lso produces a conceptual critique: it appears unclear where we are to go, how we are to act in light of the lessons Massad imparts. To his credit, the text carries a tremendous amount of analytical weight, and in that respect it feels difficult to call on it to produce an array of solutions. But the problem remains, especially when it comes to the matter of translation. Massad demonstrates the many culturalist, comparatist, and ultimately assimilationist and imperial contents of translation, highlighting where translation often is merely a tool for transforming a political subject into a liberal one for purposes of governmentality. He does dot the text with suggestions, proposing that translation can contain a counter-colonial possibility if it exposes what the limits are of the dominant language鈥攁 process which seems to incur an investigation of makes languages unequal in a colonized world. It is also implied that there is hope in approaching other languages without reference to European ones. In other words, learning a language on its own terms, refusing to rely on forms of comparatism that privilege western liberal norms. Ultimately, Massad鈥檚 point seems to hover around the dangers of uncritical translation, of how visibly and powerfully conditioned acts of political translation are in unequal landscapes of power. But the lesson from here still appears foggy. If Timothy Mitchell is to believed in saying that 鈥渢here is no way around this problem of translation,鈥� then it appears the task before us is greater than fashioning a more critical approach. If there is no way around such issues of translation in not only studying Islam but creating networks of NGOs and feminist organizations in the Muslim World, then what are we to do? How are we to emerge from the seemingly inescapable atmosphere of imperial, unequal translation? Where does this work begin? What kind of language are we to pursue? What structures ought we dismantle before anything else? What does it mean to separate ourselves from western liberalism? Is such a task possible?
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I won't lie, I've had a journey with this text. It took a series of re-reads and re-engagements with the text. When I first read it, I found myself trying to rush through at points, resting firmly with the idea that I was not going to reread the book. Ever since I finished it and reflected on it, I've 180'd pretty hard. There are weaknesses, as I discuss above, but I really found myself struck by the book. I didn't have the space to talk about it in the report above, but there were so many components of Massad's arguments鈥攅specially chapters 1, 2, and 5鈥攖hat left me with much to think about. I found myself rereading those chapters quite a bit. Partially, because they were a bit hard to read, but also because the arguments were just so fascinating that I wanted to make sure I had grasped them correctly. I think it's a very impressive work and really cut a unique hole into the study of Islam as I've been reviewing it in this class I took. Would definitely recommend.
Massad makes some powerful and interesting points in this book - which are, unfortunately, buried inside an academic stream of conscious that often has no obvious connection to his proposed central thesis and more of than not is focused on directly attacking those who disagree with him rather than productively making new points.
Only read his chapter about sex and Islam, which is the most heavily footnoted attack on people misusing his ideas (about the international gay, etc.). Turns out, this makes for a pretty entertaining read.
陌slam, hem liberalizmin hem de Avrupa鈥檔谋n iddia etti臒i kimliklerin ortaya 莽谋kmas谋n谋 sa臒layan ko艧ullardan biridir. Bu kitapta, Avrupal谋 ve Amerikal谋 liberalizm misyonerlerinin kendi de臒er sistemlerinin ve politik ve sosyal modellerinin propagandas谋n谋 M眉sl眉manlara nas谋l yapt谋臒谋n谋 g枚r眉yoruz. Bu propagandan谋n amac谋 陌slam鈥櫮� ve M眉sl眉manlar谋 Bat谋 liberalizmine ve onun de臒er sistemine d枚n眉艧t眉rmek. Buradaki liberal g枚rev 陌slam gelene臒ini liberal protestan Hristiyanl谋k imaj谋 i莽erisinde yeniden olu艧turmay谋 hedeflemektir. Bu iyiliksever g枚reve kar艧谋 陌slam谋n direnci; 枚zg眉rl眉k, e艧itlik, hak-sahibi birey olma, demokratik vatanda艧l谋k, kad谋n haklar谋, cinsel haklar, inan莽 枚zg眉rl眉臒眉, sek眉lerlik, ak谋lc谋l谋k vs. gibi liberal de臒erlere ve moderniteye itiraz olarak alg谋lan谋yor. Bu ba臒lamda 陌slam kendisine z谋t kelimelerin (Hristiyanl谋k, Bat谋, liberalizm, bireycilik, kad谋n haklar谋, insan haklar谋, ak谋lc谋l谋k, ho艧g枚r眉, vatanda艧l谋k, sek眉lerlik) muhalifi gibi g枚r眉lmektedir. Yani asl谋nda Avrupa鈥檔谋n ge莽mi艧te ve 艧imdi meydana getirdi臒i endi艧elerin -despotluk, ho艧g枚r眉s眉zl眉k, kad谋n d眉艧manl谋臒谋 ve homofobi gibi- 陌slam鈥檃 nas谋l yans谋t谋ld谋臒谋n谋 ve ancak bu yans谋tma sayesinde Avrupa鈥檔谋n demokrat, ho艧g枚r眉l眉, kad谋n sevgisi sahibi ve homofili bir 艧ekilde, k谋sacas谋 陌slams谋z olarak ortaya 莽谋kt谋臒谋n谋 inceliyor. Birinci b枚l眉mde yukar谋daki misyon demokrasi kavram谋 眉zerinden veriliyor. 陌kinci b枚l眉m ise kad谋nlar 眉zerinden anlatt谋臒谋 i莽in k谋ymetli. Kad谋n e艧itli臒iyle ve kad谋na sayg谋yla uyumlu bir din olarak (Protestan) Hristiyanl谋k ve "haklar, insan haklar谋, kad谋n haklar谋鈥� diye 鈥渒眉lt眉r眉n dayat谋lmas谋 uzun uzun a莽谋klan谋yor. Bu yolda 莽evirilerin rol眉, STK鈥檒ar谋n rol眉 de unutulmam谋艧. Do臒u despotizmi diye nitelendirdi臒i 枚teki 眉zerinden kendini in艧a eden Bat谋n谋n, bu s眉re莽te Do臒udaki kad谋nlar谋 ve sorunlar谋n谋 鈥渒endi ama莽lar谋 do臒rultusunda鈥� mercek alt谋na kalarak k眉lt眉r emperyalizmi yapmas谋 bu b枚l眉mde ifade edilmektedir.
Not: Kitab谋n 莽evirisi 莽ok k枚t眉. 3 ve 4. b枚l眉mler tat vermiyor. Ama 1 . ve 2. b枚l眉m i莽in ve meseleyi genel hatlar谋yla anlam谋艧 olmak i莽in okumaya de臒er.