Re: What do you believe?

Description: Human reason is frail and we live by trial and error.

Question: Do you have a personal philosophy?

Transcript: I’ve allowed myself to be inspired by the enlightenment thinkers. Individual freedom, reason, as opposed to living your life according to a set of so-called “divine ideas”.  The recognition that human reason is frail and that we live by trial and error.  And the things such as doubt and critical thinking are central to that way of living.  You have to be prepared to change your mind at all times.  There are things that you, of course, cannot change your mind about, such as, you should be as diplomatic as anything else; and that is the freedom that I think . . .  It was someone who said “to swing your hand and take a punch at me where your nose meets mine”.  That kind of ________ – just basic freedoms.  I also believe in human progress.  And I think in that, I differ from some of the enlightenment thinkers who thought – very few of them, by the way – that humanity was doomed to self-destruct.  I think we can self-destruct, but we can also find our way out of it.

Question: Does religion influence your worldview?

Transcript: Some of the Islamic teachings, especially at the very beginning, are about charity, and kindness, and generosity.  And I’ve retained those.  I think those are important social values that are good for all of us to live by – to try to live by – and to pass on to later generations.

Question: Where do you see yourself fitting in?

Transcript: We as Muslim women now . . .  When I was a Muslim woman, we were brought up to believe in our own submission – submission to the will of God, submission to the will of your parents, submission to the will of your husband.  And submission to the will of the husband is absolute except when he asks you to forsake Allah.  Now if we have been indoctrinated to believe that, then that’s how we act.  That’s how we behave.  But not all of us . . . and that’s I think what’s so fascinating about the human mind – is that you cannot enslave the human entirely.  Many of us have been exposed to other ideas.  We have our own personalities, seek freedom.  We can’t, I think, wake up to the programming and de-program ourselves.  And if we become aware of the fact that what we are programming our kids from generation to generation is repressive, we can decide not to do that and to take on alternative ideas.  We can be, for instance . . .  We can wake up to the fact that the God that says in Chapter 4 verse 34 . . . tells the husband “you have the right to beat your woman”, is the same God that after we are beaten and bruised, that we pray to for comfort.  Just waking up to that dissonance alone will, I think, create a platform for change.  It will create the grounds for change.

Question: What is the measure of a good life?

Transcript: I gained from the enlightenment to seek knowledge and be prepared to change your mind as your knowledge gains ground; to be giving and kind; and be concerned with the condition of your fellow human beings; and to be truthful and kind.  And I think the idea is that for that, you don’t need religion.

Recorded on: 8/15/07