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Related Articles Can Islam Be Reformed?
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Translations of this item:
Commentary requested an internet supplement for this article and I chose the key passage on the Medieval Synthesis from my 1983 book, In the Path of God; Islam and Political Power. To read it, click here.
Islam currently represents a backward, aggressive, and violent force. Must it remain this way, or can it be reformed and become moderate, modern, and good-neighborly? Can Islamic authorities formulate an understanding of their religion that grants full rights to women and non-Muslims as well as freedom of conscience to Muslims, that accepts the basic principles of modern finance and jurisprudence, and that does not seek to impose Sharia law or establish a caliphate?
A growing body of analysts believe that no, the Muslim faith cannot do these things, that these features are inherent to Islam and immutably part of its makeup. Asked if she agrees with my formulation that "radical Islam is the problem, but moderate Islam is the solution," the writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali replied, "He's wrong. Sorry about that." She and I stand in the same trench, fighting for the same goals and against the same opponents, but we disagree on this vital point.
My argument has two parts. First, the essentialist position of many analysts is wrong; and second, a reformed Islam can emerge.
![]() Rumi (1207-73), a leading mystic of Islam. |
Only by failing to account for human nature and by ignoring more than a millennium of actual changes in the Koran's interpretation can one claim that the Koran has been understood identically over time. Changes have applied in such matters as jihad, slavery, usury, the principle of "no compulsion in religion," and the role of women. Moreover, the many important interpreters of Islam over the past 1,400 years—ash-Shafi'i, al-Ghazali, Ibn Taymiya, Rumi, Shah Waliullah, and Ruhollah Khomeini come to mind—disagreed deeply among themselves about the content of the message of Islam.
However central the Koran and Hadith may be, they are not the totality of the Muslim experience; the accumulated experience of Muslim peoples from Morocco to Indonesia and beyond matters no less. To dwell on Islam's scriptures is akin to interpreting the United States solely through the lens of the Constitution; ignoring the country's history would lead to a distorted understanding.
Put differently, medieval Muslim civilization excelled and today's Muslims lag behind in nearly every index of achievement. But if things can get worse, they can also get better. Likewise, in my own career, I witnessed Islamism rise from minimal beginnings when I entered the field in 1969 to the great powers it enjoys today; if Islamism can thus grow, it can also decline.
How might that happen?
![]() Shah Waliullah (1703-62) a leading thinker of Indian Islam. |
To get around these and other unrealistic demands, premodern Muslims developed certain legal fig leaves that allowed for the relaxation of Islamic provisions without directly violating them. Jurists came up with hiyal (tricks) and other means by which the letter of the law could be fulfilled while negating its spirit. For example, various mechanisms were developed to live in harmony with non-Muslim states. There is also the double sale (bai al-inah) of an item, which permits the purchaser to pay a disguised form of interest. Wars against fellow Muslims were renamed jihad.
This compromise between Sharia and reality amounted to what I dubbed Islam's "medieval synthesis" in my book In the Path of God (1983). This synthesis translated Islam from a body of abstract, infeasible demands into a workable system. In practical terms, it toned down Sharia and made the code of law operational. Sharia could now be sufficiently applied without Muslims being subjected to its more stringent demands. Kecia Ali, of Boston University, notes the dramatic contrast between formal and applied law in Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam, quoting other specialists:
One major way in which studies of law have proceeded has been to "compare doctrine with the actual practice of the court." As one scholar discussing scriptural and legal texts notes, "Social patterns were in great contrast to the 'official' picture presented by these 'formal' sources." Studies often juxtapose flexible and relatively fair court outcomes with an undifferentiated and sometimes harshly patriarchal textual tradition of jurisprudence. We are shown proof of "the flexibility within Islamic law that is often portrayed as stagnant and draconian."
While the medieval synthesis worked over the centuries, it never overcame a fundamental weakness: It is not comprehensively rooted in or derived from the foundational, constitutional texts of Islam. Based on compromises and half measures, it always remained vulnerable to challenge by purists. Indeed, premodern Muslim history featured many such challenges, including the Almohad movement in 12th-century North Africa and the Wahhabi movement in 18th-century Arabia. In each case, purist efforts eventually subsided and the medieval synthesis reasserted itself, only to be challenged anew by purists. This alternation between pragmatism and purism characterizes Muslim history, contributing to its instability.
The de facto solution offered by the medieval synthesis broke down with the arrival of modernity imposed by the Europeans, conventionally dated to Napoleon's attack on Egypt in 1798. This challenge pulled most Muslims in opposite directions over the next two centuries, to Westernization or to Islamization.
Muslims impressed with Western achievements sought to minimize Sharia and replace it with Western ways in such areas as the nonestablishment of religion and equality of rights for women and non-Muslims. The founder of modern Turkey, Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938), symbolizes this effort. Until about 1970, it appeared to be the inevitable Muslim destiny, with resistance to Westernization looking rearguard and futile.
![]() Their views of Islam differed as much as their appearances: Atatürk (left) and Khomeini. |
Though rejecting the West, these movements—which are called Islamist—modeled themselves on the surging totalitarian ideologies of their time, Fascism and Communism. Islamists borrowed many assumptions from these ideologies, such as the superiority of the state over the individual, the acceptability of brute force, and the need for a cosmic confrontation with Western civilization. They also quietly borrowed technology, especially military and medical, from the West.
Through creative, hard work, Islamist forces quietly gained strength over the next half century, finally bursting into power and prominence with the Iranian revolution of 1978–79 led by the anti-Atatürk, Ayatollah Khomeini (1902-89). This dramatic event, and its achieved goal of creating an Islamic order, widely inspired Islamists, who in the subsequent 35 years have made great progress, transforming societies and applying Sharia in novel and extreme ways. For example, in Iran, the Shiite regime has hanged homosexuals from cranes and forced Iranians in Western dress to drink from latrine cans, and in Afghanistan, the Taliban regime has torched girls' schools and music stores. The Islamists' influence has reached the West itself, where one finds an increasing number of women wearing hijabs, niqabs, and burqas.
Although spawned as a totalitarian model, Islamism has shown much greater tactical adaptability than either Fascism or Communism. The latter two ideologies rarely managed to go beyond violence and coercion. But Islamism, led by figures such as Turkey's Premier Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (1954-) and his Justice and Development Party (AKP), has explored nonrevolutionary forms of Islamism. Since it was legitimately voted into office in 2002, the AKP gradually has undermined Turkish secularism with remarkable deftness by working within the country's established democratic structures, practicing good government, and not provoking the wrath of the military, long the guardian of Turkish secularism.
The Islamists are on the march today, but their ascendance is recent and offers no guarantees of longevity. Indeed, like other radical utopian ideologies, Islamism will lose its appeal and decline in power. Certainly the 2009 and 2013 revolts against Islamist regimes in Iran and Egypt, respectively, point in that direction.
If Islamism is to be defeated, anti-Islamist Muslims must develop an alternative vision of Islam and explanation for what it means to be a Muslim. In doing so, they can draw on the past, especially the reform efforts from the span of 1850 to1950, to develop a "modern synthesis" comparable to the medieval model. This synthesis would choose among Shari precepts and render Islam compatible with modern values. It would accept gender equality, coexist peacefully with unbelievers, and reject the aspiration of a universal caliphate, among other steps.
Here, Islam can profitably be compared with the two other major monotheistic religions. A half millennium ago, Jews, Christians, and Muslims all broadly agreed that enforced labor was acceptable and that paying interest on borrowed money was not. Eventually, after bitter and protracted debates, Jews and Christians changed their minds on these two issues; today, no Jewish or Christian voices endorse slavery or condemn the payment of reasonable interest on loans.
Among Muslims, however, these debates have only begun. Even if formally banned in Qatar in 1952, Saudi Arabia in 1962, and Mauritania in 1980, slavery still exists in these and other majority-Muslim countries (especially Sudan and Pakistan). Some Islamic authorities even claim that a pious Muslim must endorse slavery. Vast financial institutions worth possibly as much as $1 trillion have developed over the past 40 years to enable observant Muslims to pretend to avoid either paying or receiving interest on money, ("pretend" because the Islamic banks merely disguise interest with subterfuges such as service fees.)
![]() The planned building for the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, one of the world's largest no-interest financial institutions. |
Reformist Muslims must do better than their medieval predecessors and ground their interpretation in both scripture and the sensibilities of the age. For Muslims to modernize their religion they must emulate their fellow monotheists and adapt their religion with regard to slavery and interest, the treatment of women, the right to leave Islam, legal procedure, and much else. When a reformed, modern Islam emerges it will no longer endorse unequal female rights, the dhimmi status, jihad, or suicide terrorism, nor will it require the death penalty for adultery, breaches of family honor, blasphemy, and apostasy.
Already in this young century, a few positive signs in this direction can be discerned. Note some developments concerning women:
![]() Darul Uloom Deoband, a bastion of Islamist thinking in India. |
Other notable developments, not specifically about women, include:
![]() Nadin al-Badir and the first lines of her 2009 call for polyandry. |
Like its medieval precursor, the modern synthesis will remain vulnerable to attack by purists, who can point to Muhammad's example and insist on no deviation from it. But, having witnessed what Islamism, whether violent or not, has wrought, there is reason to hope that Muslims will reject the dream of reestablishing a medieval order and be open to compromise with modern ways. Islam need not be a fossilized medieval mentality; it is what today's Muslims make of it.
What can those, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, who oppose Sharia, the caliphate, and the horrors of jihad, do to advance their aims?
For anti-Islamist Muslims, the great burden is to develop not just an alternative vision to the Islamist one but an alternative movement to Islamism. The Islamists reached their position of power and influence through dedication and hard work, through generosity and selflessness. Anti-Islamists must also labor, probably for decades, to develop an ideology as coherent and compelling as that of the Islamists, and then spread it. Scholars interpreting sacred scriptures and leaders mobilizing followers have central roles in this process.
Non-Muslims can help a modern Islam move forward in two ways: first, by resisting all forms of Islamism—not just the brutal extremism of an Osama bin Laden, but also the stealthy, lawful, political movements such as Turkey's AKP. Erdoğan is less ferocious than Bin Laden, but he is more effective and no less dangerous. Whoever values free speech, equality before the law, and other human rights denied or diminished by Sharia must consistently oppose any hint of Islamism.
Second, non-Muslims should support moderate and Westernizing anti-Islamists. Such figures are weak and fractured today and face a daunting task, but they do exist, and they represent the only hope for defeating the menace of global jihad and Islamic supremacism, then replacing it with an Islam that does not threaten civilization.
Daniel Pipes is president of the Middle East Forum.
July 7, 2013 update: Jeff Jacoby does an excellent job of summarizing this article in his Boston Globe column today under the title "What Is Islam?"
Oct. 1, 2013 update: Six Commentary readers reply to this article and I then respond to them at "Islam's Future."
Apr. 10, 2014 update: Despite her 2007 statement quoted in the 2nd paragraph above, about the impossibility of a moderate Islam, Ayaan Hirsi Ali today wrote that "Both Christianity and Judaism have had their eras of reform. I would argue that the time has come for a Muslim Reformation." So, perhaps she is coming around to agree with me after all.
Related Topics: History, Islam receive the latest by email: subscribe to daniel pipes' free mailing list This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete and accurate information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL.
| Title | Commenter | Date | Thread | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Why? [32 words] | The Crusader | Sep 4, 2014 20:19 | 217606 | ||
| 2 | تجديد الخطاب الديني وتخاريف البخاري or renewal of the Islamic sources (external to the Qur'an) and al-Bukhari's drivel [539 words] | dhimmi no more | Aug 23, 2014 12:00 | 217351 | |
| 2 | Islam and people claiming to be muslim are not synonymous-- both can be poles apart [178 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes | Mazhar | Aug 1, 2014 09:45 | 216458 | |
Islam: The first and the Fundamental Law for the physical realms. [2524 words] | Mazhar | Aug 2, 2014 07:29 | 216458 | ||
| 1 | What does the word Islam mean? [661 words] | dhimmi no more | Aug 3, 2014 11:20 | 216458 | |
| 3 | Yazidis and Hindus v. Islam [333 words] | dhimmi no more | Aug 4, 2014 07:16 | 216458 | |
| 1 | Spot the mistake in the book of Allah [180 words] | dhimmi no more | Aug 8, 2014 08:48 | 216458 | |
| 1 | Teaching Arabic to wannabe Arabs [462 words] | dhimmi no more | Aug 9, 2014 08:08 | 216458 | |
| 1 | Islam and the Hindus [93 words] | dhimmi no more | Aug 12, 2014 07:01 | 216458 | |
Islam and the Hindus [30 words] | Mazhar | Aug 13, 2014 07:53 | 216458 | ||
Islam and the Hindus [445 words] | Mazhar | Aug 13, 2014 08:29 | 216458 | ||
| 2 | Why did Muslims invaded India? And how come Allah is silent about the Hindus? [196 words] | dhimmi no more | Aug 15, 2014 07:24 | 216458 | |
The Qur'an says in Q9:60 that Muslims should bribe non Muslims so they would convert to Islam [788 words] | dhimmi no more | Aug 15, 2014 08:25 | 216458 | ||
| 1 | Q9:60 says that Muslims have to bribe non Muslims so they can convert to Islam [554 words] | dhimmi no more | Aug 15, 2014 13:04 | 216458 | |
| 1 | Our dear Mazhar did not answer my questions [90 words] | dhimmi no more | Aug 15, 2014 13:10 | 216458 | |
| 1 | The Qur'an says in Q9:60 that Muslims should bribe non Muslims so they would convert to Islam part two [453 words] | dhimmi no more | Aug 16, 2014 06:47 | 216458 | |
| 1 | Teaching Arabic to wannabe Arabs and bribing non Muslims so they would convert to Islam [667 words] | dhimmi no more | Aug 17, 2014 09:16 | 216458 | |
| 1 | medieval islamic society excelled and today it lags behind [54 words] | andrewsapia | Mar 28, 2014 22:25 | 214095 | |
Islam did excel, whether you like it or not. [18 words] | Bertan Atalay | Apr 13, 2014 15:06 | 214095 | ||
What Makes a Society Excel to be Greater - Advances in Love or Retreats of Terror [418 words] | M. Tovey | Apr 24, 2014 19:13 | 214095 | ||
God's Love is not exclusive to Christians [108 words] | Bertan Atalay | Apr 28, 2014 21:06 | 214095 | ||
| 2 | There is no Allah's love in islam [398 words] | dhimmi no more | May 11, 2014 12:22 | 214095 | |
| 3 | The Quranic terrorism verse [125 words] | dhimmi no more | May 12, 2014 17:24 | 214095 | |
What? [10 words] | Bertan Atalay | May 13, 2014 22:49 | 214095 | ||
| 1 | The looting verse in the Qur'an [154 words] | dhimmi no more | May 15, 2014 06:24 | 214095 | |
Sacking is Christian [64 words] | Bertan Atalay | May 15, 2014 21:32 | 214095 | ||
You still did not answer my question about Allah's love to all of humanity [101 words] | dhimmi no more | May 16, 2014 06:44 | 214095 | ||
Our dear BA agrees that there is indeed the looting verse in the Qur'an [325 words] | dhimmi no more | May 19, 2014 07:47 | 214095 | ||
The victims of the barbarians that came from central Asia [134 words] | dhimmi no more | May 21, 2014 17:32 | 214095 | ||
God's Love is Exclusively His to Share with They Who Share it Back [419 words] | M. Tovey | Jun 13, 2014 15:55 | 214095 | ||
| Islam bavarian style - BMW [269 words] | myth | Feb 18, 2014 20:58 | 213281 | ||
| Islam cannot be reformed [165 words] | Iranian127 | Jan 25, 2014 19:54 | 212826 | ||
| 1 | To reform is to deviate [158 words] | Elton | Dec 16, 2013 16:26 | 212184 | |
| Things can get better [70 words] | Bertan Atalay | Nov 6, 2013 17:19 | 211262 | ||
| 3 | information and communication technology will shape the future [181 words] | servet cevik | Nov 4, 2013 15:39 | 211208 | |
| 2 | On Horseback In Anatolia [351 words] | Mozere | Nov 7, 2013 05:45 | 211208 | |
| 2 | Propaganda vs the facts [518 words] | Bertan Atalay | Nov 11, 2013 10:58 | 211208 | |
| 1 | A Window on Anatolia 1876 [286 words] | Mozere | Nov 13, 2013 12:12 | 211208 | |
The best disguise for a spy is the uniform. [537 words] | Bertan Atalay | Nov 14, 2013 14:22 | 211208 | ||
Spying [265 words] | Mozere | Nov 16, 2013 03:32 | 211208 | ||
| 1 | If I had a dime for each time... [206 words] | Bertan Atalay | Nov 17, 2013 20:35 | 211208 | |
| 3 | Clueless Muslims part four [112 words] | dhimmi no more | Nov 20, 2013 07:57 | 211208 | |
| 3 | Argue that Islam is an obvious 7th century fraud instead of trying to help Muslms reform it. [170 words] | Canto28 | Oct 21, 2013 17:44 | 210857 | |
Can be more original. [10 words] | Bertan Atalay | Nov 8, 2013 08:06 | 210857 | ||
| WE MAY NOT HAVE THE TIME TO CHANGE IT [101 words] | Robin Rosenblatt | Oct 21, 2013 13:26 | 210848 | ||
| 1 | You have done enough. [79 words] | Bertan Atalay | Nov 6, 2013 17:26 | 210848 | |
| 4 | Clueless Muslims [87 words] | dhimmi no more | Nov 9, 2013 07:16 | 210848 | |
Showing your class [65 words] | Bertan Atalay | Nov 11, 2013 10:21 | 210848 | ||
| 1 | Radical Islamists - Redundant!! [99 words] | Jaladhi | Nov 11, 2013 13:15 | 210848 | |
Where have you been living in the past few years??? [123 words] | Bertan Atalay | Nov 13, 2013 08:17 | 210848 | ||
| 4 | Clueless Muslims part two [202 words] | dhimmi no more | Nov 14, 2013 08:51 | 210848 | |
"Evangelicals" [259 words] | Bertan Atalay | Nov 17, 2013 12:51 | 210848 | ||
| 5 | Clueless Muslims part three [794 words] | dhimmi no more | Nov 19, 2013 08:45 | 210848 | |
| 1 | The Example of Buddhism As Religion- [113 words] | Rahul Sarkar | Oct 1, 2013 09:41 | 210159 | |
| 2 | halal beer [176 words] | myth | Aug 24, 2013 06:38 | 209194 | |
| 2 | I do!! [15 words] | Bertan Atalay | Nov 6, 2013 17:39 | 209194 | |
| Ahmadiyyat is true Islam [65 words] | ahmad | Jul 11, 2013 19:05 | 208085 | ||
| 6 | Reader Ahmad exhibited the microcosm of the entire problem. [142 words] | Prashant | Jul 12, 2013 02:21 | 208085 | |
Victims of the fake Mirza Ghulam and of Islam [48 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 26, 2013 19:30 | 208085 | ||
| 1 | Victims of Arabian imperialism [236 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 27, 2013 15:56 | 208085 | |
Islam reform the world [12 words] | Bary Soetoro | Aug 23, 2013 20:15 | 208085 | ||
| 1 | Wannabe Arabs [90 words] | dhimmi no more | Aug 26, 2013 17:50 | 208085 | |
| G-d's plan is happening automatically - sit back and watch [219 words] | Wassim | Jul 8, 2013 22:44 | 207985 | ||
| 2 | Which modernizes first: the religion or the society? [577 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes | Dan Simon | Jul 5, 2013 00:56 | 207636 | |
| 2 | If Islam is pushed by secularists [102 words] | Jason Pappas | Jul 6, 2013 12:09 | 207636 | |
Theory vs. Reality [21 words] | Gamaliel | Jul 9, 2013 05:36 | 207636 | ||
Middle East has changed and will continue to change for the better religiously [336 words] | Yesudas | Jul 14, 2013 10:31 | 207636 | ||
Good comment [208 words] | Chris heath | Oct 25, 2013 16:27 | 207636 | ||
| 11 | Why isn't there any call for reforms in Islam by any Islamic country from those 57 OIC memebers or by Muslims in our countries?? [299 words] | Jaladhi | Jul 4, 2013 17:43 | 207618 | |
| 2 | COMPLETE SILENCE from the OIC on any Reform of Islam [192 words] | Ron Thompson | Jul 5, 2013 18:12 | 207618 | |
| 3 | No Muslim can dare call for reform in Islam unless he is ready to lose his head!! [82 words] | Jaladhi | Jul 8, 2013 10:07 | 207618 | |
Looking for the answer with the wrong question [157 words] | MMR | Aug 5, 2013 03:00 | 207618 | ||
It is the economy. [109 words] | Bertan Atalay | Nov 6, 2013 17:57 | 207618 | ||
| 3 | It's the religion - and not economy, which causes Muslims to terrorize non-Muslims!!! [159 words] | Jaladhi | Nov 8, 2013 12:28 | 207618 | |
The rethoric is not enough! [18 words] | Bertan Atalay | Nov 8, 2013 20:40 | 207618 | ||
For Muslims, facts and truths are are rhetoric!! [50 words] | Jaladhi | Nov 11, 2013 13:03 | 207618 | ||
| Only by deleting satanic verses [57 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes | Mahendra Mathur | Jul 4, 2013 16:34 | 207614 | ||
Reinterpretation or abrogation is the only way out and ... [258 words] | Prashant | Jul 5, 2013 15:24 | 207614 | ||
The future of Islam [336 words] | Ali Baba | Jul 6, 2013 01:37 | 207614 | ||
| Cardinal Frings relaxing "you shall not steal" [218 words] | myth | Jul 4, 2013 08:46 | 207593 | ||
| legalism [257 words] | myth | Jul 4, 2013 08:37 | 207592 | ||
| Yes, But When? [26 words] | Dave | Jul 3, 2013 21:19 | 207573 | ||
| 2 | Missing a Bigger Opportunity than in Iran in 2009? [962 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes | Ron Thompson | Jul 3, 2013 17:55 | 207565 | |
| 1 | Taking more into consideration?> [22 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes | David W. Lincoln | Jul 3, 2013 11:48 | 207559 | |
Moving forward [87 words] | David W. Lincoln | Jul 4, 2013 20:12 | 207559 | ||
| Positive signs that are not positive [1014 words] | Guardian of Deen | Jul 3, 2013 08:44 | 207551 | ||
Indeed. [117 words] | Alain Jean-Mairet | Jul 4, 2013 02:36 | 207551 | ||
unreliable hadith [147 words] | Guardian of Deen | Jul 5, 2013 17:30 | 207551 | ||
| 1 | The Shia and A'isha [327 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 6, 2013 11:10 | 207551 | |
Ayisha age when she got married [103 words] | Guardian of Deen | Jul 7, 2013 05:31 | 207551 | ||
check before you act [43 words] | Guardian of Deen | Jul 7, 2013 05:44 | 207551 | ||
| 1 | Islam Does Not Replace Christianity: There is No Synthesis for its Reformation [528 words] | M. Tovey | Jul 10, 2013 13:35 | 207551 | |
Christianity vs. Islam - reforming Christianity [201 words] | Guardian of Deen | Jul 11, 2013 03:35 | 207551 | ||
| 1 | Religious Christianity was Reformed Once - True Obedience to Yeshua is the Basis [716 words] | M. Tovey | Jul 12, 2013 17:27 | 207551 | |
that prophet [46 words] | Guardian of Deen | Jul 19, 2013 05:20 | 207551 | ||
Which Prophet Again? [21 words] | M. Tovey | Jul 22, 2013 10:48 | 207551 | ||
| 4 | I respect Pipes' aspirations but I fear ... [483 words] | Jim K | Jul 3, 2013 07:38 | 207547 | |
| 1 | Yes it can. But... [389 words] | Alain Jean-Mairet | Jul 3, 2013 06:27 | 207543 | |
| 5 | Islam and reform? [101 words] | batya dagan | Jul 2, 2013 18:14 | 207528 | |
| 1 | Islam Already Has Been Reformed--By Some of Its Sects [63 words] | Timothy Furnish | Jul 2, 2013 15:54 | 207524 | |
| 1 | al-Ahmadiyya are their bizarre world [95 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 3, 2013 06:32 | 207524 | |
| 1 | Ask Beslan children who are murdered by "reformed" Muslims - Sufis!! [103 words] | Jaladhi | Jul 3, 2013 08:11 | 207524 | |
Quite Aware of Ahmadis [95 words] | Timothy Furnish | Jul 4, 2013 09:47 | 207524 | ||
Yes, Not All Sufis are Peaceful--but Many Are [121 words] | Timothy Furnish | Jul 4, 2013 09:53 | 207524 | ||
| 2 | The bizarre world of al-Ahmadiyya [225 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 5, 2013 06:36 | 207524 | |
| 2 | al-Ahmadiyya and their bizarre world again [215 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 5, 2013 07:44 | 207524 | |
| 2 | Amazing nonsense [2115 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 5, 2013 08:59 | 207524 | |
| 3 | What do Sunni Muslims think of al-Ahmadiyya? Let me help you: they are regarded as weird and liars and not real Muslims [363 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 5, 2013 12:34 | 207524 | |
Not taking Quran and Hadith literally does not make them reformed or peaceful!! Sufis are prime example!! [101 words] | Jaladhi | Jul 5, 2013 14:45 | 207524 | ||
| 1 | Khatem el-anbiya' is the real reason why al-Ahmadiyya is not regarded as Mulims [130 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 6, 2013 08:14 | 207524 | |
Ahmadis [59 words] | Timothy Furnish | Jul 6, 2013 17:09 | 207524 | ||
Ahmadis, once again [19 words] | Timothy Furnish | Jul 6, 2013 17:10 | 207524 | ||
Ignorant No More [35 words] | Timothy Furnish | Jul 8, 2013 21:49 | 207524 | ||
| 3 | Ahmadiyya Muslims- the True Beautiful face of real Islam [235 words] | abdul alim | Jul 9, 2013 08:13 | 207524 | |
| 2 | More nonsense [39 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 9, 2013 10:27 | 207524 | |
| 3 | Much more nonsense [31 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 9, 2013 10:29 | 207524 | |
Al-Ahmadiyya [103 words] | Guardian of Deen | Jul 11, 2013 02:32 | 207524 | ||
| 2 | i read this as you have no answers [197 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 11, 2013 06:38 | 207524 | |
| 1 | Ahmadiyyat/ True Islam/Love for All hatred for None. [248 words] | Shahnaz Latif | Jul 11, 2013 14:52 | 207524 | |
The True Islam [100 words] | Guardian of Deen | Jul 12, 2013 10:01 | 207524 | ||
| 1 | Now we will have to share the hell with Ahmadinejad [102 words] | Prashant | Jul 13, 2013 03:08 | 207524 | |
The Ahmediya deception [247 words] | Tom | Jul 18, 2013 20:11 | 207524 | ||
Terrorized of Islam [72 words] | Guardian of Deen | Jul 19, 2013 05:08 | 207524 | ||
| 1 | The bizarre world of al-Ahmadiyya and its followers [3964 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 26, 2013 17:48 | 207524 | |
Wannabe Arabs [100 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 26, 2013 17:54 | 207524 | ||
| 4 | The loony and the nuts islam and al-ahmadiyya [403 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 26, 2013 18:09 | 207524 | |
| 1 | Exposing our dear TF [122 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 26, 2013 19:27 | 207524 | |
| 2 | Followers of al-Ahmadiyya are liars and wannabe Arabs [450 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 26, 2013 19:36 | 207524 | |
| 3 | Teaching Arabic to wannabe Arabs [300 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 27, 2013 08:00 | 207524 | |
| 3 | No it is terrorized by Islam and the Quranic terrorism verse [237 words] | dhimmi no more | Aug 4, 2013 13:02 | 207524 | |
| 1 | According to your prophet. . . [71 words] | David | May 6, 2014 20:29 | 207524 | |
| 1 | My prophet? [188 words] | dhimmi no more | May 10, 2014 07:15 | 207524 | |
| 2 | What do revered Muslims say about al-Ahmadiyya? It is not very pretty [321 words] | dhimmi no more | May 10, 2014 11:33 | 207524 | |
| 2 | Where is the Outrage? [214 words] | Jules Posten | Jul 2, 2013 13:44 | 207521 | |
| 11 | Why save Islam? [271 words] | Edward Cline | Jul 2, 2013 13:10 | 207520 | |
Islam will vanish if only the truth about Islam is told to its followers and they are allowed to leave freely without fear of being killed!! [116 words] | Jaladhi | Jul 4, 2013 19:32 | 207520 | ||
Islam ... [95 words] | Hilda | Jul 6, 2013 16:16 | 207520 | ||
| 1 | Islam cannot be reformed in the next 200 years! [102 words] | Justin | Jul 2, 2013 13:05 | 207519 | |
| 1 | Islam is at its top form [68 words] | Guardian of Deen | Jul 4, 2013 07:28 | 207519 | |
| 1 | Islamism is an epic failure and a degradation of human intellect [134 words] | Tom | Jul 20, 2013 11:09 | 207519 | |
READ ISLAM [15 words] | Guardian of Deen | Jul 22, 2013 06:02 | 207519 | ||
| 1 | Allah and Q14:4 and he leads us kuffar astray! What a disaster [225 words] | dhimmi no more | Aug 4, 2013 12:45 | 207519 | |
| islamic authorities must recognize the victims [106 words] | myth | Jul 2, 2013 12:14 | 207515 | ||
| Don't hesitate to say " merci la France " [36 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes | Richard | Jul 2, 2013 11:37 | 207512 | ||
France has not done enough but has done something. [25 words] | Richard | Jul 3, 2013 15:39 | 207512 | ||
France has not done enough but has done something. [25 words] | Richard | Jul 4, 2013 14:44 | 207512 | ||
| The Islamic pendulum [79 words] | Peter Chew | Jul 2, 2013 11:35 | 207511 | ||
| 3 | Going to Mars. [97 words] | Manelis Angelakis | Jul 2, 2013 10:36 | 207509 | |
| 6 | Islam Cannot be Reformed [150 words] | Stephen Blanton | Jul 2, 2013 10:19 | 207508 | |
Islamic reform is a Pipe dream [181 words] | Lorthog | Jul 3, 2013 21:14 | 207508 | ||
Reform Muslims not Islam [159 words] | guardian of Deen | Jul 4, 2013 07:42 | 207508 | ||
Islam Cannot be Reformed [110 words] | Stephen Blanton | Jul 6, 2013 11:10 | 207508 | ||
| 1 | misleading the people [1154 words] | Guardian of Deen | Jul 9, 2013 03:31 | 207508 | |
| 2 | A question or two. [94 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes | Jon MC | Jul 2, 2013 09:29 | 207507 | |
| Wow [70 words] | john W. McGinley | Jul 2, 2013 09:20 | 207505 | ||
| 1 | A good non-spiritual analysis [78 words] | David Ferguson | Jul 2, 2013 06:55 | 207497 | |
| Can Islam be molded [134 words] | Nelson D'Silva | Jul 2, 2013 06:42 | 207496 | ||
| Misleading [60 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes | Katyayan Seraph | Jul 2, 2013 06:13 | 207495 | ||
| When and How ? [133 words] | Lars Nielsen | Jul 2, 2013 05:09 | 207494 | ||
| Can Islam change? [39 words] | Alana | Jul 2, 2013 02:13 | 207491 | ||
| 2 | Islam can never be reformed!! [99 words] | Jaladhi | Jul 2, 2013 16:08 | 207491 | |
| 1 | Reform possible [222 words] | Alana | Jul 3, 2013 01:03 | 207491 | |
Reformations [183 words] | Ed Cutting | Jul 4, 2013 11:30 | 207491 | ||
No, Islam can never be reformed !! [135 words] | Jaladhi | Jul 4, 2013 18:35 | 207491 | ||
| One more positive sign? Kuwaiti lawmakers justify trade ties with Israel (using Shari'a & intra-Arab war as justification) [93 words] | PezDispenser | Jul 2, 2013 01:54 | 207490 | ||
| Selecting language that can be heard by the intended audience [262 words] | P J Moran | Jul 2, 2013 01:04 | 207488 | ||
| 9 | Islam cannot be reformed [529 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes | Amil Imani | Jul 2, 2013 01:00 | 207487 | |
| 1 | Constitution and Quran [238 words] | Porky's2istan | Jul 3, 2013 05:32 | 207487 | |
Islamic Reform Requires 100% Cooperation [321 words] | Mike Ramirez | Jul 3, 2013 10:17 | 207487 | ||
I think Imani got this one right [4 words] | Jon | Jul 3, 2013 16:07 | 207487 | ||
| 6 | Impossible [58 words] | cmtljnpkirptsvji1683 | Jul 1, 2013 23:08 | 207484 | |
| 1 | New synthesis? How? [237 words] | Jason Pappas | Jul 1, 2013 23:01 | 207483 | |
| What are the sources of reform to be? [448 words] | Peter Herz | Jul 1, 2013 22:45 | 207481 | ||
| 1 | Yes, but in my life time? [57 words] | infosifting | Jul 1, 2013 21:53 | 207480 | |
| Can Islam Be Reformed? [50 words] | Steven L | Jul 1, 2013 21:03 | 207478 | ||
| You could not be more wrong [78 words] | Duard Hamm | Jul 1, 2013 20:51 | 207477 | ||
| 1 | Can Islam incorporate The Golden Rule [89 words] | Brett McSweeney | Jul 1, 2013 20:09 | 207476 | |
| Reality check [166 words] | M. Orbuch | Jul 1, 2013 19:45 | 207475 | ||
| Can emerge [139 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes | Henk Twerda | Jul 1, 2013 19:26 | 207474 | ||
| Pipes an optimist [135 words] | Christopher Game | Jul 1, 2013 19:17 | 207473 | ||
| ... Aliceism? [412 words] | TL Winslow | Jul 1, 2013 18:48 | 207472 | ||
| 1 | How I Think the Modern Synthesis Differs from the Medieval One [306 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes | Alex | Jul 1, 2013 18:48 | 207471 | |
| 4 | Reforming Islam [106 words] | Carl | Jul 1, 2013 18:31 | 207470 | |
So why is it still called Christianity and Judaism [31 words] | AJ | Jul 3, 2013 09:07 | 207470 | ||
| Islam can not be Refromed [34 words] | Robin Rosenblatt | Jul 1, 2013 18:14 | 207469 | ||
| 1 | where is modern Islam to be found? [20 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes | cvt | Jul 1, 2013 14:07 | 207464 | |
| Alarming positive points [695 words] | Guardian of Deen | Jul 1, 2013 10:24 | 207460 | ||
| 1 | Can Islam Be Reformed? [48 words] | Tom | Jul 1, 2013 01:47 | 207455 | |
| One on the many things I don't get [59 words] | Valin | Jun 30, 2013 21:34 | 207453 | ||
| 5 | Islam and ayat al-sayf [89 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes | dhimmi no more | Jun 30, 2013 17:26 | 207450 | |
I don't think so, Dhimmi [123 words] | Ali Baba | Jul 3, 2013 01:13 | 207450 | ||
| 1 | Ayat al-sayf and abrogation [252 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 3, 2013 10:58 | 207450 | |
| 1 | Who will abrogate ayat al-sayf?? [62 words] | Jaladhi | Jul 4, 2013 07:04 | 207450 | |
| 3 | Muslim logic at its best [588 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 4, 2013 20:13 | 207450 | |
| 2 | You make a good point [43 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 5, 2013 06:59 | 207450 | |
| 6 | Islamic/islamist/sharia Reform an Oxymoron [360 words] | Domenic Pepe | Jun 30, 2013 16:35 | 207449 | |
| 2 | Indeed Islam and reform are oxymoron together!! [103 words] | Jaladhi | Jul 2, 2013 20:28 | 207449 | |
| The title should be Muslims should be Reformed [553 words] | Guardian of Deen | Jun 30, 2013 16:13 | 207448 | ||
| 4 | What about murder? [126 words] | A6 | Jun 30, 2013 14:38 | 207446 |
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