Reply to Jason - Can't see the forest for the trees

Submitted by David John (United States), Mar 11, 2006 at 13:08

I do so hope that Jason is right in believing that an Islamic Reformation is under way in the west which will bring about a kinder, gentler expression of religious faith. I agree with him that that is the only way forward.

However, couldn't it equally well be argued that the fundamentalist, extremist, aggressive form of Islam that we see so much of today is in fact the result of just such a reformation having occured. Just as the Christian Reformers went back to the scriptures and discovered there the doctrines of the Reformation such as justification by faith alone, and access of all believers to the Almighty without the need for intermediaries such as priests or pope, isn't it true that the ayatollas from Khomeni onwards have gone back to the Koran and found there the the doctrines of jihad, of Islamic superiority, of murder and mayhem.

Is not that what they themselves say ? That they are re-discovering the true and original teachings of Mohammed and the Koran which have for so long been diluted and neglected ?

If this is in fact the case, then the differing results of the two reformations, Christian and Islamic, would be due to the differing characters and teaching of the two founders, Jesus and Mohammed and to the very different scriptures which each produced. What is needed is for Muslims to critically examine their origins and teachings just as Christians have done from the Reformation onwards, and not to scream about leaving Mohammed and the Koran alone.

I hope Jason is right and that this is going on, whatever we call it, whether Reformation, or Counter-Reformation.

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