Muslim Scholars Increasingly Debate Unholy War

[drdon326]

Muhammad Shahrour, a layman who writes extensively about Islam, sits in his engineering office in Damascus, Syria, arguing that Muslims will untangle their faith from the increasingly gory violence committed in its name only by reappraising their sacred texts.

First, Mr. Shahrour brazenly tackles the Koran. The entire ninth chapter, The Sura of Repentance, he says, describes a failed attempt by the Prophet Muhammad to form a state on the Arabian Peninsula. He believes that as the source of most of the verses used to validate extremist attacks, with lines like "slay the pagans where you find them," the chapter should be isolated to its original context.

snip

Mr. Shahrour and a dozen or so like-minded intellectuals from across the Arab and Islamic worlds provoked bedlam when they presented their call for a reinterpretation of holy texts after a Cairo seminar entitled "Islam and Reform" earlier this fall.

"Liars! Liars!" someone screamed at a news conference infiltrated by Islamic scholars and others from the hard-core faithful who shouted and lunged at the panelists to a degree that no journalist could ask a question. "You are all Zionists! You are all infidels!"

The long-simmering internal debate over political violence in Islamic cultures is swelling, with seminars like that one and a raft of newspaper columns breaking previous taboos by suggesting that the problem lies in the way Islam is being interpreted. On Saturday in Morocco, a major conference, attended by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, will focus on increasing democracy and liberal principles in the Muslim world.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/10/international/middleeast/10islam.html?oref=login&hp&ex=1102654800&en=1c3d80b34ffada21&ei=5094&partner=homepage

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"You are all Zionists! You are all infidels!"

[Igel]

1. Interesting.

Nearly a day later, an article that seems to deal with a large portion of the problem, and no comments.

Dangerous topic? Flame bait? Nothing to add? (Put me in the last category.)

[Bono71]

2. I'll add something...

The dude mentioned in the posted article is very brave.

I'm not sure I would have the huevos to speak out against the "freedom fighters" if I were living in Damascus.

Much like the IRA and Protestant paramilitary operations in Northern Ireland, nothing will be accomplished in this area of the world by violence.

Both sides need to comprimise...period.

[Tuco Ramirez]

3. The Muslims knew they would win

when their enemies started working towards "peace" instead of "victory".

Demographics don't lie.

[Bono71]

4. You're probably right.

[me b zola]

5. A good sign

I pray that we will not let our country be so over-run with fanaticism before we have to have this conversation ourselves. I believe that all of the great religions, Islam included, lead us to the same conclusions. I see so much of what we have in common, and very little of what makes us different. So the Muslims have allowed their religion to be hijacked and used as a method to rally the masses for their cause (the desire for more power). Pray God someone speaks up and restores sanity to the arena.