A conversation starter, by Jeanne
Updated: Sep 1
This conversation starter was inspired by Aftab Malik's Rethinking Islam talk at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas 2026, in Sydney.
This was one of the 2 talks that moved me the most. At one point Aftab became visibly emotional talking about Islam and the way he feels his religion has come to be understood through extremism and the actions of a relatively small number of people claiming to act in its name.
What struck me was how different the Islam he described was from the Islam many of us predominantly encounter through news and politics. He talked about its long tradition of knowledge, scholarship, critical thought and wisdom, which a lot of Westerners aren’t necessarily familiar with - he also acknowledges that this history isn’t always well understood within Muslim communities either.. He wasn't asking us to romanticise Islam or put it beyond criticism (on the contrary actually), but he was asking us to rethink how we think about Islam.
This talk had me thinking about how easily the most extreme examples of something can shape our understanding of the whole. What do the extremes actually tell us about the whole? Atrocities committed in the name of Islam have become closely associated with Islam itself, yet terrible things have been done in the name of other religions too. When is an extreme expression revealing something about a belief system, and when is it distorting it?
And I wonder where else we do this. Environmentalism came to mind. Have some of the most extreme forms of environmental activism harmed the broader environmental goals they're trying to advance? None of this means ignoring genuine problems or avoiding criticism. But how do we criticise what deserves criticism without allowing the worst examples to define the whole?
Read more: Aftab Malik has put together a fantastic collection of books, articles, factsheets and videos for anyone wanting to understand Islam beyond some of the common stereotypes and misconceptions, on his website:
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Remember, you don’t need to be an expert to join the conversation. Questions, reactions and different perspectives are all welcome. Comment below👇🏻
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