Open mindedness is always a virtue

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Nov 11, 2012 at 12:54

Dear Dr Pipes,

If Nation of Islam is indeed a sect of Islam (normative or otherwise) then its opening up to any other religion (even scientology) is a welcome news. The biggest problem (if I may say so) with Islam is its unintended close-mindedness (when there is a last prophet, there is no room for new wisdom; when there is one final incontrovertible book, there is no room for any further investigation).

Nation of Islam's connection with scientology, if it indeed happened, is a very good sign. It shows that there is room inside Islam for new ideas. In fact, it also indicates a major danger to Islam that muslims, who take pride in the large number of new converts to Islam, ignore. Many time these over-enthusiatic converson-zealots are only interested in the number games and convert anyone to Islam for any reason (marriage being the most lucrative). But these new converts also bring in new ideas into Islam. Some of these new ideas may cause the ultimate crack.

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