82approach, such as saying, “Let’s put everything to-
gether and arrive at a more holistic understanding
of what scripture might possibly say”? This requires
or ga niz ing at the grass roots. Unless there exists
a secular demo cratic equivalent of the Muslim
Brotherhood—or of all the Islamist groups that
have been working to pop u lar ize their approach
since 1928—to teach the paper in study circles in
Pakistan, in Egypt, in Syria, in Iraq, Dr. Hasan’s
writing will have no opportunity to make an im-
pact. This level of or ga ni za tion, more than a desire
to edit the Qur’an, is what’s missing.
One of the things I have attempted in Pakistan
is to help create such a movement: I helped to
found Khudi, a grassroots social movement that
seeks to pop u lar ize demo cratic culture there. We’re
attempting to do that not just because of the prag-
matic necessity, but also because of our genuinely
held belief in civil society activism as a means for
change.Harris No doubt you are right about the necessity of
starting a social movement that champions reformist
interpretations of scripture. But the contents of scrip-
ture still pose a prob lem. Often, when one attempts
to reconcile contradictions between the Qur’an and
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