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defeat the radicals and establish a reformed orthox branch as an attractor, the idea of doubt

Reader comment on item: Moderate Islam: Western Ally or Western Myth?

Submitted by myth (Germany), Jan 14, 2010 at 17:53

What can the west do to bring change about ? First it needs to defeat the radical islamists worldwide. However you cannot rewrite history, these ideas stay intact. That is why it needs more than moderation meaning a distance to the radical view. What it takes is another attractive orthodox islam, call it reformed. From a standpoint of orthodoxy I understand islam to be the qran, the mohammed example and sharia. Let's put all of those into Dr Pipes' supermarket. I do question that any reformed islam that denies the literacy of the qran would not deserve the name or find any followers.

Therefore I see a solution in reinterpreting the life of mohammed from a structural point of view, that is to say it no longer should serve as an example for everything. Second a reformed islam should get rid of sharia alltogether and start from scratch, In the supermarket model the qran as god's own words would be the fruits,vegetables, meat, naturally grown and pure food. Where as the sharia is more convenience food which has the vegatables on the packaging but was clearly made by somebody other than god. Mohammed in this picture would be someone who went shopping there for a while and discovered the whole place. Getting rid of the literacy of the quran would be changing price tags and labels, selling fruits with fake colours. This fantasy reformed islam would be based on far less texts but with a higher percentage of qran in it. It would be very much a reduced version, creating more freedom. What needs to go in there as an extra is certainly the idea of doubt, free thinking as a principle. How can one bring this about ? I cannot see that any reformist clerics in the muslim world would survive this for a long time.

It is the western world's job to create faculties of progressive islamic research maybe and take care that these faculties stay free from violent islamists in top positions. Non violent islamist would be useful. The first job of such research would be to find any idea from a muslim scholar going back all those 1400 years that would move away from today's orthodoxy and then publish. As for all those muslim women who cannot wait that long: The western governments should do everything to protect any muslim girl born in the west from the day she is born. I consider a breach of family privacy here. Yes, I believe there is a price to pay.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (46) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
The Hermetically Sealed suras [80 words]Lawrence E. AlbaFeb 12, 2011 22:44182586
defeat the radicals and establish a reformed orthox branch as an attractor, the idea of doubt [422 words]mythJan 14, 2010 17:53167341
Islam in Moderation [319 words]ArlindaJan 12, 2010 09:14167232
1Moderate Islam doesn't exist but no harm in being optimistic [611 words]Amitabh TripathiJan 12, 2010 03:52167220
2your debate with Wafa Sultan [1150 words]E WiegerJan 6, 2010 19:39166946
thanks [832 words]WatcherJan 5, 2010 18:49166878
1Islam is a Political System [32 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Dr Christian ChanJan 3, 2010 18:48166801
Question [9 words]Peter HerzJan 14, 2010 11:21166801
1The West's Wishful Thinking [78 words]ZakJan 2, 2010 12:55166729
Few problems [230 words]VK TiwariJan 2, 2010 01:35166695
Wishful thinking [125 words]The PouchJan 1, 2010 04:31166655
Moderate Islam: Western Ally or Western Myth? [58 words]steven LDec 31, 2009 21:56166644
Re: Regarding the Debate [381 words]Sudad JawadDec 31, 2009 08:12166616
Islam and its future [1677 words]dhimmi no moreJan 3, 2010 09:12166616
Rewriting Islam [130 words]ZakJan 4, 2010 12:28166616
but yet [38 words]DayyaanJan 25, 2010 10:15166616
Islam and the sira and other sordid things [159 words]dhimmi no moreJan 26, 2010 07:15166616
Madame Soltane [30 words]Bibi LapuréeDec 30, 2009 14:09166567
Mohammed the mould [77 words]Jim BeamDec 30, 2009 00:15166521
Two kinds of Islam [385 words]P.K.Dec 29, 2009 17:11166506
I fear Wafa S. is closer to the truth, but I see a way to synthesize your positions [152 words]Charles MartelDec 29, 2009 16:00166504
Moderate Islam/Muslims, a myth created by Western Islamic apologists!!! [198 words]JaladhiDec 29, 2009 14:00166495
moderate Islam??? [171 words]Paul WinterDec 29, 2009 08:02166471
Islam will moderate only when defanged [103 words]yuval Brandstetter MDDec 30, 2009 16:28166471
reality [23 words]Silvio SperberDec 28, 2009 23:57166448
Great debate [159 words]Rebecca MouldsDec 28, 2009 22:54166439
Is There Moderate Islam? [67 words]Ilbert PhillipsDec 28, 2009 22:46166437
Mr. Berg argued similarly [160 words]Abu NudnikDec 28, 2009 21:27166430
Islam can change [538 words]LadyDec 28, 2009 20:50166423
dont teach islam [14 words]bary soetoroDec 30, 2009 00:51166423
Judeo-Chrisitianity is just as bad [164 words]Charles RipleyDec 30, 2009 19:02166423
Gus Dur: one of a moderate and good muslim [560 words]LadyDec 30, 2009 22:57166423
According to the Bible Christians must kill.........????????? [310 words]Jim BeamDec 31, 2009 17:39166423
Judeo-Christianity is just as bad [94 words]Bernard BairdJan 8, 2010 07:12166423
Ajtp [9 words]mustafaJan 16, 2010 03:07166423
Quran's verses versus "Moderation". [90 words]Charles GriffithDec 28, 2009 20:43166420
Media is false [111 words]SalmaAug 10, 2014 22:52166420
Moderate Islam [123 words]KEN PERLMANDec 28, 2009 19:19166406
islamism [51 words]rodney allsworthDec 28, 2009 18:56166402
To give a chance to moderate muslims to change their own brothers [159 words]LadyDec 28, 2009 21:04166402
Thanks for the Update [36 words]P V ArielDec 28, 2009 23:51166402
Only one Islam - radical!!! [124 words]JaladhiDec 29, 2009 17:12166402
Muslim will change you [50 words]bary soetoroDec 30, 2009 23:36166402
there is something to debate: authority [95 words]mythJan 14, 2010 18:02166402
Myth: That is the problem [108 words]LadyJan 17, 2010 05:16166402
Thinking [11 words]LadyJan 17, 2010 19:32166402

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