BACKGROUND: 

The Usuli Institute (www.usuli.org) is nearing the completion of Project Illumine: The Light of the Qur’an, the first complete original English language commentary on the Qur’an (tafsir) in over forty years. We seek to secure funding to begin Project Illumine II: The Light of the Prophet Muhammad, "Decolonizing the Sirah in the Age of Islamophobia", an in-depth re-examination of the life of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) from the original sources.

WHAT WE'RE FUNDING:

• A Global Virtual Master Class on Decolonizing the Sirah in the Age of Islamophobia, taught by eminent Islamic Scholar, Jurist, and Distinguished Law Professor: Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl.
• We are creating the knowledge to DECOLONIZE and RESIST.
• To reclaim our history, our narratives, and our dignity, we must relearn our rich tradition anew - minus the colonial filter.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT:

• Islamophobia is a billion dollar industry. It is based on racism. It targets Muslims and is designed to create doubt and crises of faith.

• In the age of information and technology, you do not have to occupy territory to colonize it. You simply have to control information.

• Islamophobia disempowers Muslims. Even when mentioning the words “Islam” or “Prophet Muhammad,” Muslims feel a sense of dread.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?

• Investing in the right knowledge and information.
• Making this knowledge available for future generations of Muslims.
• Dr. Abou El Fadl previously presented an 8-part series of halaqas titled, “Humanistic Approaches to the Life of the Prophet." This Master Class will include an additional 20+ years of Dr. Abou El Fadl's research of the hadith tradition since then.

HOW CAN I HELP? Help us make this knowledge come to life. Let this be your legacy for future generations. 

Matching Gift Program: Every donation up to $50,000 will be matched dollar for dollar by a generous donor!

PHASE I: Fundraising for 1st Semester - NOW
Target Start Date of Semester 1: January 2024

UPCOMING:
Phase II: Fundraising for 2nd semester 
Phase III: Fundraising for publishing all content as a multi-volume collection 

WHAT YOUR DONATION WILL SUPPORT:

• Globally accessible weekly virtual halaqas at The Usuli Institute (www.usuli.org)
• Professional Recording and Podcasting
• Technology Platform
• Transcription Services and Editing
• Research
• Marketing
• Design Services
• Publishing
• Labor

WHY YOUR CONTRIBUTION IS IMPORTANT:

This project is an act of resistance and education to undo the damage of colonial narratives. Projects like this are about truth-telling. It is 100% donor-supported.

MORE BACKGROUND (From The Prophet's Pulpit: Commentaries on the State of Islam by Khaled Abou El Fadl):

How does being “colonized” look and feel in 2023:

* You cannot say the word “Shari‘a” anywhere in the Muslim world today, for example, without making Muslims uncomfortable. They are immediately gripped by a sense of dread. You must explain that you are not a fanatic. You are not a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. You are not an “Islamist” or a terrorist. Similarly, any Muslim who utters the word “ jihad” immediately experiences a sense of dread, like a gulp in the throat...Even when mentioning the words “Islam” or “Prophet Muhammad,” Muslims feel a sense of dread. They must now explain that Islam is not violent, and that the Prophet was not bad. The minute you do that, you give up power. The minute you apologize for your being, your being has been compromised. (p. 109)

Decolonizing the Sirah can avert crises of faith

* I receive so many emails from young Muslims, saying, “I heard this about the Prophet. How about this event? How about this incident? How about this? How about that?” Islam spread very quickly and, as a result, many people entered Islam who either did not understand Islam or who remained hostile to Islam and entered it for purely political and career reasons. Many hadith narrations were invented by those who pretended to be Muslim and who did not like the Prophet. Throughout the centuries, most of these reports went into quarantine. Scholars recognized these anti-Muhammad traditions that say horrible things about the Prophet and quarantined them. Both Islamophobia and Wahhabi-puritanical Islam have since returned to these hadiths and circulated them among Muslims once again. I can give you one example. There is a hadith report that claims the Prophet attempted suicide. Can you imagine? The tradition says the Prophet went to a mountain and was about to throw himself off it before the Angel Gabriel prevented him. For centuries, this tradition was quarantined. You could grow up, live, and die as a Muslim having never heard of this report. Today, however, this report has come out of cultural quarantine because Islamophobes and evangelists found it, said, “Wow. That makes Muhammad sound crazy,” and publicized it. (pp. 197-198)

How do we start Decolonizing? It begins with proper education to reclaim our own historic narrative, re-examining the original sources without the colonial filter, and knowing the true ethical example of the Prophet.

* God blessed humanity with a beautiful human being and a true moral example in the Prophet Muhammad. No Prophet has been as vilified throughout history as the Prophet Muhammad. Yet God reminds us of the basic truth that the Prophet was a man of great ethics (Q 68:4). It is because of his ethical character that he could bear the enormous burden of carrying the Qur’an. (p. 195)

* When we find God describing this man, the Prophet, as a man of great ethics (Q 68:4), as a mercy unto humankind (Q 21:107), and as so close to God as to be in God’s heart (Q 52:48), that should be our yardstick as to what to believe about our Prophet. (p. 198)

* Without the moral example of the Prophet, we Muslims have very little. (p. 198)

ABOUT DR. KHALED ABOU EL FADL

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl is the Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law. He is a classically trained Islamic jurist and a distinguished professor of American law. He is one of the world’s leading authorities on Shari'ah, Islamic law, and Islam. He was formerly the Chair of the Islamic Studies Interdepartmental Program at UCLA. Dr. Abou El Fadl is the Founder and Scholar in Residence at The Usuli Institute (www.usuli.org). He previously served on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and the Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch. Among his many honors and distinctions, Dr. Abou El Fadl received the University of Oslo Human Rights Award in 2007, and the 2020 Martin Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion by the American Academy of Religion (AAR). A prolific scholar and prominent public intellectual, Dr. Abou El Fadl is the author of Reasoning with God: Reclaiming Shari'ah in the Modern Age; The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists; Speaking in God’s Name: Islamic Law, Authority and Women; Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law; And God Knows the Soldiers: The Authoritative and Authoritarian in Islamic Discourses; Islam and the Challenge of Democracy; The Place of Tolerance in Islam; and The Search for Beauty in Islam: A Conference of the Books. His latest book is The Prophet’s Pulpit: Commentaries on the State of Islam, Volume I. Volume II is forthcoming in 2023.

Learn more about Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl here. For an online archive of Dr. Abou El Fadl's work, visit www.searchforbeauty.org. 

ABOUT THE USULI INSTITUTE

The Usuli Institute (www.usuli.org) is nearing the completion of Project Illumine: The Light of the Qur’an, the first complete original English language commentary on the Qur’an (tafsir) in over forty years. For more information about Project Illumine II: Decolonizing the Sirah in the Age of Islamophobia, see www.usuli.org/projectilluminesirah including how to become a Founding Sponsor.

We are a U.S. based 501c3 non-profit public charity dedicated to elevating ethics, critical thinking, and dignity through education about the vast Islamic intellectual tradition. We are a team of dedicated academics, professionals, and volunteers that are passionate about the beauty and humanism of the Islamic tradition. For more information, contact Executive Director Grace Song at grace@usuli.org.