An Interview with Prof. Abdullahi An-Na’im, Islamic Scholar at Emory University

As the must-read New Yorker article, The Moderate Martyr notes, “In 1967, a law student at the University of Khartoum named Abdullahi Ahmed an-Naim was looking for a way to spend a summer evening in his home town, a railway junction on the banks of the Nile in northern Sudan. No good movies were showing at the local cinemas, so he went with a friend to hear a public lecture by Mahmoud Muhammad Taha, an unorthodox Sudanese mystic with a small but ardent following. Taha’s subject, “An Islamic Constitution: Yes and No,” tantalized Naim… As Naim listened, a profound sense of peace washed over him; he joined Taha’s movement, which came to be known as the Republican Brothers, and the night that had begun so idly changed his life.”

In 1985 Ustaz Taha found himself accused of sedition and apostasy in a politically-motivated trial which resulted in his execution. Now, years later, Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, his student, is a professor at Emory University. He’s the author of the book Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Sharia, and is carrying on intriguing research about Islam and human rights.

In this 34-minute video interview, Prof. An-Na’im and I discuss key issues that include:

- Freedom of conscience
- Islam and the secular state
- How we can become more persuasive in online Islamic discourse
- And points about Sudan’s historical experience with Sharia and democracy

If you missed An-Na’im’s 1-minute take during the original audio seminar, here’s the transcript:

“My name is Abdullah An-Na’im, I am from Sudan. I’m an Islamic scholar teaching at Emory Law School in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

My view about the new media and the future of Islam and Islamic discourse can be presented in the following terms: new media provides tremendous opportunities for communication, but it is not a substitute for the human agency of the actions. What people need to communicate, how to communicate, and to be persuasive. To other people, not to the people who already agree with them. So the challenge is, to expand our constituency, and to be persuasive through the new media. And ultimately, to be able to act on the ground, and to be able to defend our position in real-time and space.”

Enjoy the interview.