How do I feel as a devout* Muslim who is also a prominent human rights activist? A topic I've avoided speaking about in years but that has distressed me (and others) for a while
First off: I acknowledge that "devout" (and other markers of religious commitments) are problematic. What one considers to be devotion varies from person to person; and in general one shouldn't describe themselves as devout. But let's put this point on hold --
For years now I've been treated with suspicion, even outright hostility, by two large groups who believe a devout Muslim cannot be a human rights activist. One of these groups thinks I'm a crypto-Islamist. The other group thinks I'm a deviant heretic.
Both groups happen to be committed to the view that there's only one possible and correct Islam, and it happens to be a rather Salafized, identitarian version that's hostile to the values of egalitarianism and liberty. Both are very comfortable calling me the wrong kinda Muslim.
Curiously, neither group have attempted over the years to engage me to actually find out what I believe. Most of their attitudes were driven by projections. They've accused me of everything from hypocrisy to ignorance to dishonesty, without bothering to ask a question.
Why is this important? Because the future of the MENA belongs to those who can bring together liberals and Islamists into one political system. But a prerequisite is intellectual evolution on the part of both, and different countries are at different points of this evolution.
Fact is, the vast majority of people in the MENA who take to the streets demanding freedom and dignity don't care about labels. They're just screaming their aspirations and values into the air. Then you have people projecting their politics and ideologies onto them.
So long human rights spaces are clubs for only one kind of activist, we won't get the positive engagement that can melt ideological barriers and lead to ideological evolution.
