Reality check

Submitted by M. Orbuch (United States), Jul 1, 2013 at 19:45

Objective evidence accrued over 15 centuries argues for Ms Ali's position.

In the 3rd and 4th centuries of Islam the Mutazilites of Mesopotamia and Fatimid rulers of Egypt (professing the Ismaili branch of Shi'ism) sought a less literal and more relativistic Islam inherently better able to co-exist with the outside world. Each in turn saw their adherents slaughtered and ideologies violently suppressed.

The Umayyad Dynasty's Cordoban Caliphate in Spain reached its apex in the 10th century and ruled, by necessity, with greater circumspection on account of considerable Jewish and Christian populations. This was ultimately met by a puritanical Reaction from North African Almoravids and Almohads seeking to 'purify' Iberian Islam gone "apostate" in their minds. More blood, desolation and cultural dissipation followed. This pattern appears the rule rather than the exception.

And if Dr Pipes is ultimately proven right, several centuries will yet pass, with the blood of countless more innocents spilt before a true Reformation takes hold. It's just not presently in their cultural "cards".

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