I need more convincing

Submitted by Kevin Graham (Brazil), Mar 31, 2005 at 07:55

In showing how Islam can be moderate, and obtain variant interpretations of the Quran, Dan provides the example of Sudanese reformer Mahmoud Muhammad Taha. Dan says these interpretations are "there for the taking," but who in their right mind would do so, given the fact that this reformer was murdererd for adopting them? This cuts to the heart of the issue.

Surely people can invent variant interpretations of just about anything. I don't think that is really a point of debate. Whether or not it is feasible to put these reforming ideas into practice in an environment such as Islam, is the question. The problem with Islam is tends to foster monolithic mass opinion and it universally shuns free thinking. Further, the Muslim sense of an unchanging, inerrant Quran is one of their main selling points. For them, that is what makes Islam better than Christianity, which, according to them, has changed with the wind according to variant interpretations and translations of the Bible. Muslims typically boast that the Quran is so holy that it has NEVER been changed because Allah would not allow it. So for a Muslim to concede the point and insist the Quran should be interpreted in light of new interpretations - or even worse, considerations of western expectations - well, is it any wonder the Islamic reformers of the last century can be counted on one hand?

Here are other examples of "reformers" speaking their mind. Muslim liberal Farag Foda was murdered in June 1992 by a mob for sharing his reforming ideas, and Sheikh Ahmad Ghazali from Al-Azhar testified on behalf of the murderer, insisting what was done was just according to Islam. Ala' Hamid was jailed, as was his publisher for printing an essay that the majority at Al-Azhar didn't like. He said, "My only crime is that I allowed myself to think." Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, another free thinker who spoke his mind, had his marriage dissolved on Sharia grounds that a Muslim woman couldn't remained married to an apostate. The repercussions always outweigh the benefits for those free thinking Muslims, which is why I need more convincing that Islam could ever see a meaningful "reform."

It cannot be over emphasized that nowhere on this planet can a Muslim feel secure in his reforming ideas. Even in the United States former or reforming Muslims are being persecuted or killed for their so-called "blasphemy" against Islam. And if we assume American Muslims can lead the way to reform, we have to remember that the 2-4 million American Muslims represent less than .5% of global Islam, and even there we have to deal with the fact that 80% of American Mosques are Wahhabi controlled. Where is a moderate voice? No. Where are those "influencial" moderate voices?

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