Posted on 09/12/2004 9:40:14 PM PDT by tbird5
Beslan and 9/11 are leading millions of Muslims to search their souls. Even clerics now question the harshest traditional laws and look for a more humane interpretation of their faith.
The Muslim world is changing. Three years after the atrocity of 9/11, it may be in the early stages of a reformation, albeit with a small "r". From Morocco to Indonesia, people are trying to develop a more contemporary and humane interpretation of Islam, and some countries are undergoing major transformations.
Much of the attention is focused on reformulating the sharia, the centuries-old body of Islamic law deeply embedded in a medieval psychology. The sharia is state law in many Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan and the Sudan. For many conservative and radical Muslims, the sharia is Islam: it cannot be changed, and must be imposed in exactly the shape it was first formulated in the ninth century. Since 9/11, there has been a seismic shift in this perception. More and more Muslims now perceive Islamic law to be dangerously obsolete. And these include the ulema, the religious scholars and clerics, who have a tremendous hold on the minds of the Muslim masses.
(Excerpt) Read more at newstatesman.com ...
It's pretty difficult to develop a "humane interpretation" of "..kill them (non-moslems) wherever you find them!" (Sura 9:5)
The problem is not one of interpretation, it is one of ESSENCE!
Religions can and do change.
Islam will too. No choice. It must or perish.
It's too late for this one. The risk of nuclear or biological terror is too great to permit it the conditions for a peaceful reformation. A few apostates getting more press does not a reformation make.
Wait. there is one possible change that would improve islam: if all its adherents assume room temperature.
That would be surprising information to a lot of countries that are Islamic.
Perhaps it does. But since the alternatives to change in Islam are either eternal conflict or extermination, I'm very much in favor of internal reform.
Or 10,000 degrees.
There are a lot of things common to the average Westerner which would be 'surprising information' to Islamic countries... like the use of toilet paper or the fact that there are Americans in Baghdad.
LOL! Just goes to show that all countries have narrow minded people with no clue, even this enlighted one.
Well, that's ok, we accept you for who you are ;)
They may not know how to use TP but sure know an AK.
Sorry, you're going to have to accept who, or what, you are before you will ever have a clue about anyone else.
Well, I was giving you a graceful way out, but seeing as you're not taking it, what makes you the expert on what Islamic countries think?
I think if I were to need consultation on anything dealing with grace it wouldn't be from you. Please, do not stop demonstrating your ignorance on my behalf. I find it far too amusing.
/john
BWAHAHA!!
[Damn good thing these PC CINOs weren't in charge in WWII or we'd all be speaking German]
Nazis civilians were just as guilty as the guys who pulled the trigger. So it is w islamism. Islam is NO religion. It is a cult.
it will perish.
along with the old gods of norse mythology and the baals of old... only the oddballs and the curious still pray to Odin.
Ashtarthe may be the romantic goddess of literature and movies betimes, but ultimately, nobody really believes that crap.
Of course there are raelians, who believe in wierd stuff, just like the hale-bopp folks... but those are not really believed by rational majorities of any consequence.
Dead religions, kook religions and religious fundamentalists of all stripes are passing off the scene.
Fundamentalist Islam is clearly in it's death throes.
Unfortunately, the world's weapons that may fall into it's hands are so vast now, that their death throes may kill a billion or two of us in the long run...
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