64So, my fi rst point was that just because some-
thing is the way it is today, that doesn’t mean it’s
what it was yesterday or what it will be tomorrow.
Because there is no clergy in Islam, these matters
are constantly evolving. I’d argue that no doctrine
on earth has ever been or will ever be immutable
because of course doctrines are constructs—
the work of human beings. I think this will always
be the case. Again, I need to qualify this. I do not
speak as somebody who holds himself up as a reli-
gious leader or has a vested interest in resolving this
par tic u lar theological dispute. My aim is merely to
show just how closed the debate around Islam has
become, whether the debaters are Muslims or even
certain non- Muslims.
My role is to probe and ask skeptical questions
about interpretive methodology, Muslim history,
identity, politics, policy, values, and morality. But
Dr. Usama Hasan, Quilliam’s se nior Islamic
scholar and a religious imam, takes a position on
reform theology. Dr. Hasan’s positions are not
Quilliam’s offi cial positions— Quilliam is a secular
organ ization— but we will support the work of
scholars such as Dr. Hasan as part of our role in
showcasing variety in theology. I believe that this
variety will lead us to secularism and liberalism.
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