Islam, HIV/AIDS and activism: a critical analysis of some themes in Positive Muslims' 'theology of compassion'

The present article is a critical analysis of the South African organization Positive Muslims' theology of compassion', put forward by its proponents as a Muslim religious initiative to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and the stigmatization of those affected by the disease. The article addresses the hermeneutics applied and the results reached in relation to a wider contemporary Muslim religious discourse on HIV/AIDS. It also connects the theology of compassion' to a broader transnational movement of progressive Islam, of which the theology of compassion' is a practical, grass-roots application. The main analytical focus, however, is on the way in which certain features in this theology are shaped by basic assumptions on the part of its producers concerning the beliefs, emotions and background knowledge of its main stated consumers: believing Muslims.