Saturday Video: Islam and Modernity

by Salman Hameed

This 10 minute video from Religion & Ethics Newsweekly is set in Egypt and is from August 2009 (before the recent Arab Spring). I found it interesting as it brings up trends and questions that are relevant for much of the Muslim world. For example, who has the authority to interpret matter related to religion? There are more and more online fatwas out there and they can range from being reasonable to completely ridiculous (one example of the latter is given in the video). At the same time, we are seeing a growing number of educated Muslims learning the Qur'an and interpreting Islam for themselves. Such views are also being impacted by the interaction with literature and other ideas from across the world via the internet and because of the ease of global travel. In addition, new technology is bringing up new kinds of questions (for example, marriage or divorce via text?).

Interestingly, the video also brings up the trend of increasing public piety in Egypt. This is actually true in much of the Muslim world, and this is getting increasingly intertwined with the notions of individual rights and personal religious beliefs.

Here is the video.