Graham argues that the spoken, oral/aural aspect of the scripture is central to the understanding of the functionality of the written word in religious traditions. He notes that the study of religions, due to its lack of examination of the phenomenon of scripture, falls short in providing an adequate understanding of religion in general, especially concerning Islam. The spoken word predates texts and thus must be considered a crucial piece in understanding religions. In order to exemplify the historical significance of the spoken word, Graham traces back the origins of the Judeo-Christian. West’s scriptural phenomenon that relied on “the application of historical-critical, text-critical and linguistic analysis to the central texts of the ‘world religions,‘ including those of one’s own tradition” through this approach, the function of scripture is subjugated to a stagnant view of sacred texts. The spoken word, he claims, undermines the “vital spirit of the oral word by incarcerating it in the ‘the letter’”.
Scripture, then, is defined solely as the written word, neglecting the cultural and historical significance surrounding it. Scriptural studies must encompass the living, active reality in a relational sense with abandonment of unconsciously assumed fundamentalism and authority of the sacred text and adoption of a memorization, recitation and internalization process around scripture The Qur‘an differs from other sacred texts since it is a direct encounter with God through His speech. Thus, the root QR, with the fundamental sense of recitation reveals, “it is indeed as a recited text above all that the Qur‘an has played a major role in the piety and practice of Muslims”. Parallels within Abrahamic traditions that emphasize the vocal manner and study of sacred texts reaffirm the importance of recitation, since early followers of Islam would have been influenced by practices of 7‘” century Jews and Christians.
Furthermore, the words in the Qur‘an itself, such as the reoccurrence of the verb tala: “to recite, follow,” paired with hadith accounts that “denote the act of recitingmrpoint toward the active role as spoken word that has been the distinctive mark of Muslim scripture not only in the early days but throughout Islamic history”. Qira‘a and tajwid, practices of formal Islamic “science” with predominantly oral natures, have been left out of the study of religions, though they are fundamental in the broad understanding of Islamic interpretations and practices. Exemplified in the attempts by Muslims to preserve the sound of Word of God in its full beauty and authenticity transmitted by the Prophet, it is evident that verbal religious traditions carry a significant portion of the religious tradition. In Islam, the daily prayer salat and tilawa, public artistic gestures of religious devotion, both indicate scriptural phenomena that are neglected in the general study of scripture in world religions.
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The Muslim “treatment of the Qur’an,” despite the variation of Muslim communal traditions, “presents us with a scripture that is oral, as well as written [that calls for pondering over] the implications of this for our general understanding of scripture as well as our specific interpretation of it in particular traditions“. Saba Mahmood explores the American understanding of secularism and the way in which these discourses manifest in policies concerning national security and foreign intervention Modern secularism presented itself as the cure to political tensions by setting up religion as “a lowest common denominator” in the 18‘h century following conflicts within Christian sects The state becomes the actor for carrying out such seemingly virtuous personalization of the religious sector of people’s lives, but secular liberal projects seldom consider the hypocrisy of extending oppressive practices in the name of a liberal society. According to Mahmood, “such a violation of people‘s rights to religious freedom contradicts a core commitment at the center of liberal democratic governance.
Using examples such as that of the French law that banned displays of veils in public schools, Mahmood questions the legitimacy of the state as “the ongoing regulation of religious life through juridical and legislative means suggests a far more porous relationship that the doctrine of secularism suggests.” She claims that due to liberal anxiety surrounding the place of religion in a secular society, the normative project of secularism has sought not to give a safe space for religious practice, but rather “reshape the form it takes, the subjectivities it endorses, and the epistemological claims it can make”. The laws under the International Religious Freedom Act suggest the existence of this phenomenon in the U.S., since the supposed neutral political ethic of secularism regulates life ”on an international scale in the name of enforcing and protecting religious freedoms” in order to “render them compliant with liberal political rule.
US political strategy, since the Muslim fear following 9/11, thus finds allies in reformist Muslims who embrace the Western vision of civilization. The aim of creating a neutral political ethic ignores the “civilizing and disciplinary aspects” of the process of secularization carried out by the US The 2003 Muslim World Outreach program, which adopts the ideas of the National Security Research Division of the Rand Corporation, aims to transform the ‘traditionalist‘ Muslims by equating devotion/faith with weakness in character/inability to embody the goals of secularism.
The report does not recognize the civil importance of such traditionalist groups that have provided social services since “under the pressure of neoliberal economic policies increasingly adopted since the 19705″, while many US, projects have involved direct documented alliances with fundamentalists to mobilize for the sake of secular liberal democracy. The US State Department has thought of traditionalism as an obstacle in the project of reaching international secular theology. The assumed fundamentalism and stagnant nature of the Qur’an further perpetuates this idea, while Christianity and Judaism are not held to the same historical understanding of sacred texts and may be interpreted for their messages.
