Submitted by Imran Khan (United States), Aug 2, 2002 at 16:02
I am an apostate. Dr. Pipes, you are missing one key component in this effort in mordernising Islam: There exists 1000 years worth of authoritative commentry by highly regarded Muslim scholars on the Quran, and NO ONE in Islam has the right or the authority to change or challange one word of the Quran. So how and who is going to provide the gentler interpretations? Cannot be done. Iranians are struggling with it, and my bet is that they will fail. It cannot be modernised. Look at the history of Mughal India. That is where Islam came closest to being civilised. Five generations of intermarrying and adapting to a peaceful civilisation, and then they produced someone like Iran's Khameni !! You are wrong on this one, Dr. Pipes.
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