The Much Exaggerated Death of Europe

First Things ^ | May 2007 | Richard John Neuhaus

[Huber]

Read through to the end. Neuhaus is charitable in his comments.

[Verloona Ti]

according to Ramadan, Muslims must abandon the ancient division between dar al-Islam and dar-al harb, the world of Islam and the world of war. Rather, the non-Muslim world should be viewed as dar al-da’wa, the world of proclamation in which Muslims spread their teachings by peaceful example. Jenkins observes, “For Muslims to accept these principles in France would mark a milestone; applying them to many Muslim nations would constitute a revolution.” Jenkins returns again to his theme of complexity: “Yet the religious situation is much more complex than it might appear. While radicals and militants flourish, their opponents are numerous and significant, and so are the historical forces working against extremism.”

That would mean repudiating the literal translations of too many verses in the koran, as well as too many hadiths. Could it happen ? Maybe...anything's possible...But "the gates of interpretation are closed" and have been since the conquest by the Seljuk (then nonmoslem) Turks. That conquest was considered proof that allah was punishing them for the more liberal, less literal interpretation of the more bloodthirsty verses in the koran, among other things. There really was a time when islam was reasonably civilized, even in comparison with Christianity-but the culture shock of the Turkish conquest ended those days. Can this change? Maybe, but at this moment in time it's hard to see how, when reinterpreting the koran less literally and less "bloodthirst-ly" has been explicitly forbidden for centuries. But one must wish Ramadan and those like him well.

[Mmmike]

God is great, and John the Baptist (pbuh) is His prophet.