Monday, August 08, 2005

The Right Time for An Islamic Reformation

This is an interesting article written by Salman Rushdie, author of the Satanic Verses. It is also interesting to note that Rushdie’s life was threatened because of this book. Although many people believe in Christianity, so far I haven’t seen anyone threatened because they have interpreted the bible differently than established dogma. I’m guessing this is one of the fundamental things that make some people believe that Islam is fascist and evil since there is no tolerance for translating the Qur’an in any other way than the long standing dogma that have been observed for centuries. And the punishment to do so, is death.

The questions are: 1) Is it necessary for Islam to be reformed the way Martin Luther reformed Christianity? 2) Could a move beyond tradition -- a reform movement, bring the core concepts of Islam into the modern age and combat the jihadist ideologues as Rushide postulates? Islam and reformation in the same sentence, hmm!!! Very interesting indeed...

Excerpt:

What is needed is a move beyond tradition -- nothing less than a reform movement to bring the core concepts of Islam into the modern age, a Muslim Reformation to combat not only the jihadist ideologues but also the dusty, stifling seminaries of the traditionalists, throwing open the windows to let in much-needed fresh air.

It would be good to see governments and community leaders inside the Muslim world as well as outside it throwing their weight behind this idea, because creating and sustaining such a reform movement will require above all a new educational impetus whose results may take a generation to be felt, a new scholarship to replace the literalist diktats and narrow dogmatisms that plague present-day Muslim thinking. It is high time, for starters, that Muslims were able to study the revelation of their religion as an event inside history, not supernaturally above it.

Link
posted by Cynthia   Permalink| Comments(5)|

Post a Comment

---------------oOo---------------