Different Paths (continued)

Submitted by Pro-Israeli Democrat (United States), Jun 29, 2006 at 09:48

Sorry, readers, I got cut off when my comment was accidently sent. I was talking about the positive strides within Shiite Islam that I have been observing, and talking about Mohsen Kadivar, the Iranian cleric who is now one of the country's strongest advocates of a secular state. So, too, is Hussein Khomeini, the grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini (and I, as supporter of Israel, a staunch critic of Islam and of religion in general, was shocked to learn this). Is all of this coincidental? I don't think so, and I believe that Sunni and Shiite Islam are heading down two very different paths.

While Grand Ayatollah Saanei issues fatwas against sucide bombing and nukes and Sistani helps the US hold Iraq together, the Grand Mufti of Egypt approves suicide bombing. Meanwhile, a Saudi Cleric delivers fatwas approving the use of nukes against "infidels." In reading my previous entry, one should understand the role-reversal between Sunni and Shiite Islam that has occurred since the glory days of Lebanese Hezbollah...Yes, we are witnessing a crisis within Islam, but especially in the Sunni branch, and that is frightening. But why?

Is Ijtihad the answer? Can THAT, as Manji suggests, end the crisis of Islam? I hope so, because American bombs cannot do that. We are fighting a battle of ideas, and Muslims cannot be expected to embrace our secular, liberal values overnight. We must fight to protect these values from Pat Robertsons and Jerry Falwells as it is (for as far as I am concerned, God does not exist at all, and the protection of secualrism, Darwinism, and everything that goes with it is MY NUMBER ONE PRIORITY. WE SHOULD CRUSH, PULVERIZE, AND DESTROY BOTH ISLAMISM AND FUNDAMENTALIST CHRISTIANITY), NOT WITHSTANDING MUSLIM ZEAL. But perhaps Ijtihad, which still exists in Shiite Islam, is the key component to defeating Islamo-fascism. When the Sunni embrace it again, the rest may simply be history.

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