Towards Sacred Activism

About The Book

Towards Sacred Activism is an attempt at providing concise, general guidance to Muslims in the West regarding engagement in social justice activism from an Islamic perspective. I do not profess that the brief contents within are the sole authority on this issue, nor do I believe that this work should go un-critiqued. It is but an attempt to present some general parameters and reminders based upon fundamental aspects of Islam drawn from our rich tradition which focus on building and supporting model life for all of Allah’s creation, humans being the priority.

This work by Imam Dawud Walid, Towards Sacred Activism, is a very valu­able addi­tion to the ever grow­ing library of Eng­lish Islam­ic lit­er­a­ture. The title itself, how­ev­er, seems to hint at an oxy­moron. After all, activism, as usu­al­ly under­stood, implies a pas­sion­ate, engulf­ing engage­ment with the world, while the sacred implies that which is of or relat­ed to God, who is, in many crit­i­cal aspects, dis­tinct from the world. This seem­ing con­tra­dic­tion only exists when we view the world through the dichotomized lens pro­vid­ed us by the mod­ern West. As more and more Mus­lims adopt that lens as part of their effort to both under­stand and engage the mod­ern world, the gap between the reli­gious schol­ar, viewed by many as the prin­ci­pal defend­er and pre­serv­er of the sacred in the world, and the activist, grows wider.

Imam Zaid Shakir, Zaytuna College

About The Author

Dawud Walid is an imam in the Metropolitan Detroit area and is a senior fellow at the Auburn Seminary based in New York City. He is also co-author of the previously released book entitled “Centering Black Narrative: Black Muslim Nobles Among the Early Pious Muslims."

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