source: http://www.middleeastreads.

com/2010/08/the-future-of-islam-by-john-l-esposito-
oxford-university-press-2010-reviewed-by-james-a-reilly/

The Future of Islam by John L.

Esposito (Oxford University Press,
2010) Reviewed by James A. Reilly
John Esposito makes the case that what he calls the “mainstream” of
Muslims worldwide are engaged in vigorous debate about their future
as communities, and the future of Islam as a faith, in the modern
world. He introduces his readers to clerical and lay thinkers, writers,
televangelists and political figures from Muslim communities and
societies who are engaged with issues of Islam and democracy, Islam
and human rights (including especially women’s rights), Islam and
citizenship, the role of Muslims living in Western lands, and the place
of Islamic law in the modern world. The book’s geographic breadth is
wide, encompassing Muslim personalities — men and women — from
the Arab world, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and North
America.
His protagonists’ methodologies, like their geographic origins and
national identities, are diverse. Some can be characterized as
progressive and liberal, whilst others are deeply conservative. Some
argue for a reinterpretation of early Islamic sources; others argue for a
reassertion of traditional understandings of Islam against present-day
attempts to bowdlerize Islam and turn the religion into a political
ideology. What Esposito’s protagonists have in common, however, is
that they are critical of “extremist” Islam. “Extremists” are defined by
their advocacy of political violence; or of misogynistic and narrowly
punitive understandings of Islamic law; or of intolerance toward other
religions, and of sectarian attitudes vis-à-vis other Muslims. Again and
again Esposito asserts that the extremists of various types do indeed
have followings, but that they lie outside the “mainstream”
understandings of Islam to which most Muslims subscribe and which
are most relevant to the future of Islam and of Muslims.
Esposito is a liberal American scholar writing for an American audience.
Thus many of his comparative references are to American phenomena.
One goal of his book is to normalize Islam and Muslims, to portray the
religion and its members as part of a wider Abrahamic moral tradition
with which Americans are assumed to be comfortable. Another goal of
his book is to prescribe approaches for US policy and policymakers
dealing with the Muslim world (i.e., Muslim-majority countries for the
most part). Esposito emphasizes the importance of dialogue, mutual
comprehension, and identification of shared interests rather than what
he sees as a Bush-era preoccupation with “security” and “terrorism” as
determining factors in US-Muslim relations. Written in the glow of
Barack Obama’s June 2009 speech in Cairo, The Future of Islam
expresses hope that US relations with the Muslim world are about to
take a turn for the better, under the aegis of a new US administration
prepared to act according to new criteria. The year that has passed
since this book went to press has not been kind to its author’s more
optimistic assumptions.
Because Esposito presents the future of Islam and of Muslims as a
foreign policy challenge, his book is less successful in achieving the
author’s clear wish to normalize Muslims as part of American society.
Interpreting “them” to “us,” The Future of Islam reinforces a
framework that defines Muslims as outsiders, as foreigners who need
skilled interlocutors in American society. For the past generation, few
academic interlocutors have been as skilled, tenacious and prolific as
John Esposito. But as Muslims assert a role for themselves as
American citizens by right and not by sufferance, a different kind of
discourse will need to develop.
…
James A. Reilly is a Professor in the Department of Near & Middle
Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto