Being Muslim, Being Cosmopolitan: Transgressing the Liberal Global Chad Haines, PhD Religious Studies & Global Studies Arizona State University chad.haines@asu.edu Abstract The practices and concepts of Muslim cosmopolitanism are rooted in Islamic ideas, providing the foundations for informal “comings together” that foster new kinds of ethical communities. Muslim cosmopolitanism transgresses global normative aspirations of the liberal West that attempt to impose a singular way of being a global citizen. The informal, ethical communities that are inherent to a Muslim cosmopolitan vision also reject the absolutist visions of Islamists, such as those promoted by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which, like Western liberal aspirations, attempt to impose a singular vision of the global. The article traces Muslim cosmopolitan ethics in the transgressive, informal, fluid, and temporary coming together on Tahrir Square in Cairo in the January 25 Revolution. Keywords: cosmopolitanism, global citizenship, liberalism, ISIS, Tahrir Square, informality, transgression Acknowledgements: I am deeply indebted to my colleagues at ASU’s Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict who are part of the Luce Foundation funded faculty seminar on Religion and Global Citizenship, particularly Linell Cady, George Thomas, and Yasmin Saikia. Through our readings and discussions the ideas for this paper germinated, though my ideas are not shared by all, the discussions and debates have been extremely fruitful in my own thinking and thus am also thankful to Gaymon Bennett, Catherine O’Donnell, Tom Puleo, Roxanne Doty, and Anne Herbert. I also wish to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their critical insights and suggestions.