CNN: Salman Rushdie calls for 'Muslim Reformation'

[DeepModem Mom]

Salman Rushdie calls for 'Muslim Reformation'
Thursday, August 11, 2005


LONDON, England (CNN) -- British author Salman Rushdie on Thursday called for a reform movement that would move Islam into the "modern age" to combat jihadists and closed Muslim communities in the West that produce disaffected youths wielding "lethal rucksacks."

In 1989, Rushdie was forced into hiding when the late Iranian Islamic fundamentalist leader Ayatollah Khomeni issued a religious death decree for alleged blasphemy against Islam in Rushdie's novel "The Satanic Verses."

The Indian-born Rushdie made his statement in an essay published Thursday in The Times of London....According to Rushdie, Islam comprises millions who are "tolerant" and "civilized" but many others whose viewpoints are "antediluvian, who think of homosexuality as ungodly, who have little time for real freedom of expression, who routinely express anti-Semitic views and who, in the case of the Muslim Diaspora, are -- it has to be said -- in many ways at odds with the cultures among which they live."...

***

"From such defensive, separated worlds (as some in the Muslim community of Leeds, England) some youngsters have indefensibly stepped across a moral line and taken up their lethal rucksacks," Rushdie wrote. "The deeper alienations that lead to terrorism may have their roots in these young men's objections to events in Iraq or elsewhere, but the closed communities of some traditional Western Muslims are places in which young men's alienations can easily deepen."...

***

"If (the Quran) were seen as a historical document, then it would be legitimate to reinterpret it to suit the new conditions of successive new ages. Laws made in the 7th century could finally give way to the needs of the 21st. The Islamic Reformation has to begin here, with an acceptance that all ideas, even sacred ones, must adapt to altered realities."


http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/08/11/rushdie/index.html

[JohnLocke]

1. Kick (nt).

[Canuckistanian]

2. He's a brave man

But rather supid. I don't think Muslims are going to welcome his views with open arms, even if he has good ideas.

If anything, he's cruising for another fatwah.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. I'm sorry, but can't help LOL --

"cruising for another fatwah."

[etherealtruth]

5. "he's cruising for another fatwah."

Oh what a wonderful use of words:7

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

8. oh, I dunno

Islam isn't monolithic. For every fundamentalist Muslim, there are moderate and even liberal Muslims, just as there are moderate and liberal Christian sects. I know gay Sufis, for example, who are in good standing in their Sufi order-and they aren't in the closet. Messages from our leaders, like fatwahs, are merely suggestions-we believe that the individual is responsible for their own actions.

[Canuckistanian]

11. Yes. but the traditionalists and reactionaries are in charge

And the Shi'ites are the ones to worry about right now.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

12. depends on where you are talking about

in parts of the Middle East, I'd say yes. In other places, definately no. Check out www.muslimwakeup.com and you can read about the many many different voices of progressive Islam and what they are doing.

[bemildred]

3. With all due respect to Mr. Rushdie, it has nothing to do with religion.

He is right on that count, but that is not what the "satchels" are about.

[rodeodance]

6. "who think of homosexuality as ungodly, "--well that describes certain

Christians in this country.

[bemildred]

7. It describes a lot of people, anywhere you go.

I respect Mr. Rushdie, but there are two problems, flat-earth fundamentalists and dumb-shit empire-builder wannabes, and they are to some extent in cahoots with each other to screw the rest of us. You need to focus on the real problem, which is fuckwits that won't mind their own business.

[Miss Chybil]

9. Fundamentalism crosses sectarian borders.

Intolerance is intolerance is intolerance - no matter the perpetrators.

[Elidor]

10. Damn, son, didn't you get your fill last time around?

I certainly respect his stand, but it explores that fine line between bravery and stupidity. Damned if I could be so blasé, so nonchalant with a fatwa over my head.

[Nihil]

13. Maybe after some more royalties?

He has to do this every now & then to keep his name listed in
conjunction with the title "author" ... his writing is mediocre
at best so he has to do something to keep the pennies rolling in!

:P