There is one shariah. Its gods law. No one not qualified in fiqh will be taken seriously if they come up with “liberal” interpretations. People can do whatever they like but calling it Islam is a bit much. You cannot mix and match the bits of Allah’s law you like and ignore the bits you don’t like.

This is a pointless conversation since you don’t seem to understand the most basic thing about how Islam works. When it comes to Allah’s law “freedom of thought, intuition, etc” goes out the window. An individual either chooses to follow Allah’s law or not. The consequences are between that person and Allah.

Individual imams can do whatever they feel like. Allah will judge them in the afterlife.
Shariah does not change, no matter how much you (or I) don’t like certain aspects of it. Only Islamic scholars are qualified to interpret Allah’s law. “Liberal Muslims” are not following shariah completely and in that sense they can be called non practicing Muslims. Which is their right but practicing Muslims will tell them that certain actions of theirs go against Allah’s wishes. They have to be prepared to hear that judgement and then they can do whatever they like.
This conversation is now over from my side. Believe whatever you want. It doesn’t change the mainstream understanding of Islam.

“in a country like the US where gay marriage is legal, an imam is not going to marry two men and it is his legal right to refuse to do anything not sanctioned by his religion.”
There are many liberal Imams who now marry gay people. 🙂

“Practicing Muslims think Allah’s law is more important than laws made by human beings”
Agreed. Liberal and minority muslims might be interpreting Allah’s law correctly too! In which case international secular law is consistent with Allah’s law. Awesome! 🙂

Vikram, freedom of art, thought, intution, feeling, philosophy are deeply embedded in eastern thought and scriptures. Anyone can leave the faith so to speak or marry anyone they choose. Any Sanskrit scholar I am certain would agree with this. At best the family can choose to ignore the family member who chooses this path. They cannot do more. All any Hindu has to do is quote the shastras and no one can object. In fact there are many stories of precisely this.

Now of course almost no Hindus have read Manu Smriti, Dharma Shastra, Bhishma’s multi-volume speech or the shastras (which I did . . . with some skimming . . . as a teenager).

Kabir,

“I am no one to judge “good” or “bad” Muslims. I can refer to them as practicing and non practicing. Someone who isn’t following shariah is not a practicing Muslim, whatever they think of themselves. I wouldn’t say I’m particularly practicing myself. It is for Allah to judge.”

No disagreement on any of this. Do you prefer the phrase “practicing” to “good” or “authentic”? I will consider using this phrase.

Many liberal and minority muslims interpret Shariah very differently from how Islamists interpret Shariah. For example some muslim scholars consider the US constitution, the Indian constitution and English common law to be consistent with Shariah and I see no reason to disagree. Muslims have the right to interpret Shariah liberally if they so choose. This is what freedom of art, thought, intuition and feeling means. The 14 century Islamic civil war is partly over different interpretations of Shariah.

The lack of a media industry is not going to change religious law. Shariah is very clear on who a Muslim man or woman can have a nikaah (religious marriage) with. No maulvi is going to perform a non religiously sanctioned marriage.

Even in countries like Pakistan, court marriages exist.
They are difficult to do, but not impossible.
If Muslims want to marry non Muslims and they are living in the west, the state will recognize that marriage. Expecting religious people to go against religious law is a bridge too far. For example, even in a country like the US where gay marriage is legal, an imam is not going to marry two men and it is his legal right to refuse to do anything not sanctioned by his religion.

Practicing Muslims think Allah’s law is more important than laws made by human beings. Of course, if they live in non Muslim countries, they understand that they must obey the law of the land.

Anan,
Please stop with the unsolicited advice. I don’t need any advice from you on what to say or write. I am a grown and intelligent man. What I write reflects on me. If it hurts some random person’s feelings, its none of my concern.
I am no one to judge “good” or “bad” Muslims. I can refer to them as practicing and non practicing. Someone who isn’t following shariah is not a practicing Muslim, whatever they think of themselves. I wouldn’t say I’m particularly practicing myself. It is for Allah to judge.

Most societies had such restrictions, but changes were brought about through various avenues including the media and the influence of prominent personalities leading to legal protections.

I wonder if a major issue modernist Muslims face is the lack of a media industry and attendant celebrity culture to influence the Muslim masses. I checked online for the most followed Twitter accounts in important Muslim countries like Egypt and Pakistan, and the most followed celebrity accounts are those of news presenters, religious preachers and sports persons. It is likely that political restrictions in these countries prevented the emergence of an alternate stream of influencers who could challenge religious orthodoxy.

Shafiq R, I think Kabir’s answer is athentic:
“Personally, I’m a fan of secular states based on the western model. Anyone can marry who they like as far as I am concerned. However, according to shariah a Muslim woman cannot have a nikah with a non-muslim man. She can have a civil marriage and if that works for the couple, more power to them.”
Kabir is clearly a nonislamist muslim (I would say good or authentic but Kabir doesn’t approve those descriptors) and on the correct side of this issue. At worst he sometimes inartfully and imprecisely conveys his views.

I have a request to the Brown Pundits community that I am sure would greatly please Zachary. Can we try not to harshly respond when Kabir makes typos or imprecisely conveys his feelings? Shouldn’t we focus on the feelings, emotion and heart of a person versus how politically correct they write? Doesn’t love and light heal all?

And a request for Kabir . . . please think about not implying that the many muslims or muslim heritage people who read, write comments or contribute articles to Brown Pundits might in any way not be “real”, “authentic”, “good” muslims?

You might be the best muslim at Brown Pundits and the world more generally. You might even by one of the most loving spiritually evolved human beings on the planet (similar to the Shia Imam {from the line of Fatimah} or Sufi Auliya saints.) You are a lot better and smarter than me as I freely concede. But some muslims and muslimish people feel hurt when it is implied that they are not completely authentic muslims.

No need to decide now. Take a few weeks to think this over. Please pray about it. And decide later.

Thank you 🙂