Posted on 01/14/2015 10:56:22 AM PST by Brad from Tennessee
WILL “moderate Muslims” finally “speak up” against their militant coreligionists? People around the world have asked (but, as in the past, have not all seriously examined) this question since last week’s horrific attacks on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and on a kosher supermarket in Paris.
____________________________________________________________________________________snip_____________________________________
The only source in Islamic law that all Muslims accept indisputably is the Quran. And, conspicuously, the Quran decrees no earthly punishment for blasphemy — or for apostasy (abandonment or renunciation of the faith), a related concept. Nor, for that matter, does the Quran command stoning, female circumcision or a ban on fine arts. All these doctrinal innovations, as it were, were brought into the literature of Islam as medieval scholars interpreted it, according to the norms of their time and milieu. Tellingly, severe punishments for blasphemy and apostasy appeared when increasingly despotic Muslim empires needed to find a religious justification to eliminate political opponents.
One of the earliest “blasphemers” in Islam was the pious scholar Ghaylan al-Dimashqi, who was executed in the 8th century by the Umayyad Empire. His main “heresy” was to insist that rulers did not have the right to regard their power as “a gift of God,” and that they had to be aware of their responsibility to the people. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Thank you.
If Islam were so bloody ‘’peaceful’’ why the need for ‘’moderation’’? Wouldn’t that make the argument it isn’t ‘’peaceful’’?.
All of the middle east has descended into an “honor culture”...they must not be dishonored; it is the only thing they have.
Their culture is stuck in the stone age...what has islamic culture contributed to science, literature, art, music, medicine in the past several centuries?? Nothing! They continue to be shackled to a cult that insures they will never escape into the modern world.
Their culture continues to shrink in the rear-view mirror of the west and they cling to their view of honor as who they are.
Very well said pallis!!
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.