Making Moderate Islam

Sufism, Service, and the "Ground Zero Mosque" Controversy

Rosemary R. Corbett

• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781503600812, 9780804791281
• eBook ISBN: 9781503600843
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Islamic Theology

Drawing on a decade of research into the community that proposed the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque," this book refutes the idea that current demands for Muslim moderation have primarily arisen in response to the events of 9/11, or to the violence often depicted in the media as unique to Muslims. Instead, it looks at a century of pressures on religious minorities to conform to dominant American frameworks for race, gender, and political economy. These include the encouraging of community groups to provide social services to the dispossessed in compensation for the government's lack of welfare provisions in an aggressively capitalist environment. Calls for Muslim moderation in particular are also colored by racist and orientalist stereotypes about the inherent pacifism of Sufis with respect to other groups. The first investigation of the assumptions behind moderate Islam in our country, Making Moderate Islam is also the first to look closely at the history, lives, and ambitions of the those involved in Manhattan's contested project for an Islamic community center.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Title Page
• Series Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Debating Moderate Islam
• 1. Islamic Traditions and Conservative Liberalisms
• 2. Service, Anti-Socialism, and Contests to Represent American Muslims
• 3. Sufism and the Moderate Islam of the New Millennium
• 4. From Sufism without Politics to Politics without Sufism
• 5. The Micro-Politics of Moderation
• 6. The Prophet’s Feminism: Women’s Labor and Women’s Leadership
• 7. Islam in the Age of Obama: What’s More American than Service?
• Conclusion: Community Service and the Limits of Inclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Series List