Open-Mindedness and the Companions of the Cave: Qur’an and the Temporal Elaboration of Muslim Subjectivity

ABSTRACT This essay is an attempt to think about, and think with, liberal critiques of Muslim religious commitments. Through an analysis of Akeel Bilgrami’s critique of Muslim identity, together with a consideration of the virtue of open-mindedness, the article turns to the qur’anic parable about the companions of the cave in chapter 18 of the Qur’an (The Cave) to find the lineaments of a temporal conception of Muslim subjectivity, a conception that allows for a theologically informed possibility, or rather imperative, of the virtue of open-mindedness and also hope. The essay uncovers the theological-ethical implications implicit in the qur’anic pericope about the companions of the cave and models how religious ethics can help recover resources within religious traditions (in a qur’anic parable in the present case and especially the apparently puzzling verses of Q 18.23–4) that can allow for more humane possibilities of living authentically Muslim lives in liberal, secular contexts.