Posted on 02/26/2008 11:57:16 AM PST by northmoor
Turkey in radical revision of Islamic texts By Robert Piggott Religious affairs correspondent, BBC News
Turkey is preparing to publish a document that represents a revolutionary reinterpretation of Islam - and a controversial and radical modernisation of the religion.
The country's powerful Department of Religious Affairs has commissioned a team of theologians at Ankara University to carry out a fundamental revision of the Hadith, the second most sacred text in Islam after the Koran.
It says that a significant number of the sayings were never uttered by Muhammad, and even some that were need now to be reinterpreted.
Some messages ban women from travelling without their husband's permission... But this isn't a religious ban. It came about because it simply wasn't safe for a woman to travel alone Prof Mehmet Gormez, Hadith expert, Department of Religious Affairs
Prof Mehmet Gormez, a senior official in the Department of Religious Affairs and an expert on the Hadith, gives a telling example.
"There are some messages that ban women from travelling for three days or more without their husband's permission and they are genuine.
"But this isn't a religious ban. It came about because in the Prophet's time it simply wasn't safe for a woman to travel alone like that. But as time has passed, people have made permanent what was only supposed to be a temporary ban for safety reasons."
Prof Gormez points out that in another speech, the Prophet said "he longed for the day when a woman might travel long distances alone".
So, he argues, it is clear what the Prophet's goal was.
Yet, until now, the ban has remained in the text, and helps to restrict the free movement of some Muslim women to this day.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
That right there opens the theology of Islam up . . .
Does this mean that the 12th Imam can stay put in that well?
i shouldn’t joke as this does sound like a positive step.
[... This may create a war within Islam...]
LOL! Always the snark!
When has there NOT been war within Islam?
Well, it sure sucked to be German during the 30 year war. That one is still a head scratcher — France and Spain fighting against each other in Germany for pete’s sake!
Yes, I do see your point about the oil prices, but if the peak oil people are right, a huge run up in oil prices is inevitable anyway. It might be good to get a run up in mow and let our people think up replacements / alternatives sooner rather than later. And having whackos fly airplanes into buildings in Ankara sounds a lot better to me than them flying planes into skyscrapers in the US.
I wasn’t being sarcastic - I do think the Turks are helping everyone out. As well as the obvious political benefits, I believe the moderating influence of this move will even make it more possible to reach muslims with the gospel of Christ.
Wouldn’t you love to hear the Wahabbi Mullahs or Iranian Imams preach on this one? I picture flecks of foam at the side of their mouths . . .
I know what you mean, but Turkey actually holds a lot of weight in the world of (well, Sunni) Islaam, having been the seat of the last Khilaafah.
The centers of Islaamic learning have never been with the Gulf Arabs, who are considered backwards & primitive by the other Arabs. The Islaamic theology centers were in Egypt, Iraq, & Turkey until Attaturk. Gulf oil changed this, & the other Arabs resent it.
Catholic France fought on the Protestant side because it didn't want Hapsburg Austria -- and Hapsburg Spain -- to be the pre-eminent Catholic powers in Europe. France was protecting its national interest.
They DO preach it, of course.
It would be even more amazing to see some Muslim denounce that portion of the religion... well, at least until he was beheaded.
I picture Indonesian muslims as mellower and more open to a less radical theology also . . . I’ve never been there, just from what I’ve read.
You cant stick a cylinder into a square hole.. This religion is strictly 9th century hokum, no getting around it.
There may be hope for the planet yet... because until Islam leaves the 7th century, it will keep over a Billion people in despotism.
I think that it is easier to convert South Asian Muslims out of Islaam because the truth is that Islaam is so Arabic/Semitic that it’s more difficult for other ethnicities to find a place in it. They are also less violent by nature.
But I’ve always witnessed another phenomenon, which is South Asian Muslims being prone to inferiority complexes toward Arabs & seeking to emulate them or even outdo them in hate-spewing & fanaticism. Turks suffer from no such inferiority complex. Quite the contrary.
...It's Turkey's statement that it needs to be considered now as a European nation.
...It's the promise of a european muslim state that is NOT part of 'greater albania', terrorism, or wahabiism.
...It's a potential rally point for moderate muslims - wherever they are.
...It's a chance to resolve issues with the Kurds (?/!)
Or, it's a pipe dream.
Or just cynical politics.
In any case, it's going to be dangerous to the power structure, and the masses, within Turkey.
If sincere, it will surely create enemies & require support from friends.
It could cause reorientation of islamist fervor - making us their likely best friend.
Fingers crossed.
Unfortunately, going back to the fundamentals of the Koran of the fraudulent "prophet" Mohammed leads one straight to the extremism of Wahabism, not to any relaxation of the violence of Islam.
Oops, then. If evangelizing in Turkey is made easier, then that would be good. A Roman Catholic priest was murdered over the Danish cartoon, and a Protestant missionary family was murdered by islamofascists.
The Hadith was arbitrarily adopted as "official" and "unchanging" by, among others, the first and most respected scholar:
This online version, translated by M. Muhsin Khan, has a useful table of contents. Bukhari included 7275 hadith in his Sahih, many of which were variants of others with different chains of transmission. Of these, 2712 were not duplicates. It was reported that he had originally collected 600,000 hadith before subjecting them to his critical method.
LINK
Obviously, if muhamed spend his entire life just dreaming up "wise" sayings, he would have had no time left over to kill anything, rob anyone or organize a killing machine, even if he lived to be 200, which he didn't.
Bottom line, the human process of picking and choosing is subject to all the scams, power plays and outright dishonesty humans are subject to.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Interesting information. Appreciated. Guessed that Saudi Arabia was at least a traditional center for the religion since Islam started in the area and the Koran (and Hadith) was written in Arabic.
And long-holding-grudge Arabs had the Turks ruling over them for around a millennium under the Ottoman Empire (Lawrence of Arabia and all).
No — I understand the motivation — its the geography that puzzles me to this day. Last time I checked a map, France and Spain had a common border, which seems to be an obvious place for those two to have their war. Germany? For France and Spain to get it on there? A head scratcher...
I guess the Europeans were just too subtle and nuanced for me even 380 years ago.
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