Last weekend I attended a conference entitled "Toward A New Enlightenment" sponsored by the Council for Secular Humanism on the occasion of its 25th anniversary. It was something of a homecoming tempered by the knowledge that homecomings are always fraught with lingering discomforts. Exile simply is; it is an inescapable part of the human condition and it propels our quest for comfort in an increasingly bizarre world. Nonetheless, it was a spectacular homecoming and for the first time in my life I experienced a truly exhilarating sense of belonging. This- I thought to myself- is how Malcolm X must have felt as he stood among other Muslims during the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Home, then, comes to look like the freedom to be oneself amongst a community that celebrates the freedom to tread unknown paths while remaining attentive to stubborn realities and human limitations. With a sigh of relief one escapes the tawba narrative that looks upon all doubt as a necessary stage on the road to recovery and regards skepticism as a temporary aberration that shall pass!!!!!!  ‘’ Read the sources. This is not true Islam’’, the orthodox whisper. The whispers are attended by condescending nods and a patronizing assumption that more knowledge will miraculously lead to faith. Tolerance is extended on the sly. One is made to understand that discretion holds the social fabric together and returns wandering souls to the fold.  

To be perfectly honest life is a muddle and I doubt anybody has figured out how to live and if guidance is so difficult to decipher then is it any sort of guidance at all? Part of being human is going through the muddle and trying to make life meaningful with the sobering knowledge that life may be meaningless. The onus is on us folks. Within such a framework courage becomes one of the most important virtues. Even if the book were infallible, our imperfect apprehension of its infallibility makes guidance a muddle. Besides, submission is not my usual response to complex texts. The Great Book has some great stories and one cannot overestimate how these great stories have enriched the human imagination and provided consolation during dreary dreary times and inspired humanity to think through compelling questions through storytelling.