Posted on 04/11/2008 5:40:28 AM PDT by Ted
Oh brother!...You Texans must be so proud!....What an idiot!
My former tagline: Texas Governor Rick Perry: the best Aggie joke ever!
Governor Good Hair strikes again. What a dufus!
The Shia Ismaili Muslims and their Imam, the Aga Khan, actually have condemned extremist interpretations of Islam such as the Wahhabis and the Taliban. In an interview given right after 9-11, the Aga Khan said that the Taliban of Afghanistan actually “condemn themselves” by forcing religion on people when the Quran says “there is no compulsion in religion”.
In a speech made at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in 2003, the Aga Khan condemned extremism with the following words:
“The revelation granted to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) opened new horizons and released new energies of mind and spirit. It became the binding force that held the Muslims together despite the far-flung lands in which they lived, the diverse languages and dialects they spoke, and the multitude of traditions scientific, artistic, religious and cultural which went into the making of a distinctive ethos. This message is still potent in the Muslim world today, although it is sometimes clouded, distorted and deformed by political interests and by struggles for power over the minds and hearts of people. There are attempts at transforming what are meant to be fluid, progressive, open-ended, intellectually informed, and spiritually inspired traditions of thought, into hardened, monolithic, absolutist and obscurantist positions. Yet there are many across the length and breadth of the Muslim world today who care for their history and heritage, who are keenly sensitive to the radically altered conditions of the modern world. They are convinced that the idea that there is some inherent, permanent division between their heritage and the world of today is a profoundly mistaken idea; and that the choice it suggests between an Islamic identity on the one hand and on the other hand, full participation in the global order of today is a false choice indeed.”
It is indeed a time for action! It is a time for all Americans to finally take notice of a prominent Muslim leader like the Aga Khan, the 49th hereditary descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, who tirelessly works to promote Islam as a thinking, spiritual faith of compassion, humanity and intellect. It is indeed time to seize the unique opportunity to dialogue with this brand of Islam, is it not?
Didn’t actress Rita Hayworth marry this Khan’s father or similar relative?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.