Not even as simple as Dr Pipes complicated position

Submitted by M.Orbuch (United States), May 13, 2013 at 12:55

The Christian West evolved from its theological triumphalism only after centuries-long titanic struggles of both flesh and ideas. Islam too entered a self-examination phase a 1000 years ago in Mutazilite rationalism and the religious relativism of Fatimid Shi'ism. To the modern world's loss, these efforts were crushed and the spirit of the totalitarianist Almohads, their contemporaries prevailed, to be carried forth centuries later by Wahabist successors and the like. ibn Tumart, founder of the Almohad movement in the 2nd decade of the 12th century, is admired & oft-quoted by al Qaeda and Salafists.

Self-reflection, which seems lacking from religious, cultural and political institutions within the Islamic world, must organically arise from within. And I don't know that after an ossified 14 centuries it can.

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