Interfaith engagement can silence Muslim criticism of Israeli state practices

Evidence

The political marginalization of dissident Muslims is on full display on the issue of Palestinian human rights. Muslims engaged in interfaith activities are loathe to criticize Israeli state practices that treat Palestinians (both Muslim and Christian) in the occupied West Bank and Gaza as colonial subjects, lest they offend their Jewish partners. Indeed, some Muslims have gone to the extent of joining the Muslim Leadership Initiative (MLI) at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, which provides Muslim participants an immersive experience engaging with Jewish scholars and educators about their religious lives and relationship to Israel. While a seemingly benign interfaith project, the MLI has been criticized by Religious Dissident Racial Muslims as a form of “faithwashing.” As journalist Sana Saeed puts it, “what washing the occupation and apartheid clean actually is: to sanitize the narrative in which the oppressor becomes the oppressed or, at the very least, a relatable oppressor.” — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 1014

Categorization

• QUESTION: The ‘faithwashing’ concept — how ritual/religious solidarity is weaponized to launder political oppression — deserves deeper exploration as a mechanism beyond this single case.
• XREF: Pairs with Sana Saeed as critic, and with the book’s earlier distinction between Religious Dissident and Secular Dissident Racial Muslims.