Muslim scholars in US push for change
Seek harmony between Islamic, democratic values
By Charles A. Radin, Globe Staff
April 3, 2006

An increasingly prominent group of Muslims and former Muslims in the United States -- ranging from soft-spoken Islamic scholars to outspoken intellectuals and professionals -- are defying death threats and ostracism to campaign for changes in the way their religion is practiced.

In the process, they are directly challenging the virtual monopoly on interpreting Muslim traditions that has been held by conservative clergy for 200 years.

Much attention in the media and the non-Muslim community is being directed at critics such as Irshad Manji, a brash Muslim lesbian author who is a fellow at Yale University; and Wafa Sultan, a Syrian-born psychiatrist in Los Angeles whose recent condemnation of Muslim attitudes toward violence on the Arabic satellite station Al Jazeera created an international furor.

Within the Muslim community, a larger, more cautious group is also speaking up: people who remain devout even as they call for a reexamination of subjects ranging from the role of women to national loyalties to the governance of mosques. the rest