Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Extremism Isn't Islamic Law

WaPo reported during the early history of Islam, the Agreement of Hudaibiyah between Muhammad and his rivals stipulated that any Muslim who converted out of Islam would be allowed to depart freely to join the non-Muslim community. Nevertheless, throughout much of Islamic history, Muslim governments have embraced an interpretation of Islamic law that imposes the death penalty for apostasy. It is vital that we differentiate between the Koran, from which much of the raw material for producing Islamic law is derived, and the law itself. While its revelatory inspiration is divine, Islamic law is man-made and thus subject to human interpretation and revision.....

All of humanity, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, is threatened by the forces of Islamist extremism. It is these extremists, masquerading as traditional Muslims, who angrily call for the death of Abdul Rahman or the beheading of Danish cartoonists. Their objective is raw political power and the eventual radicalization of all 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide. Western involvement in this "struggle for the soul of Islam" is a matter of self-preservation for the West and is critical given the violent tactics and strength of radical elements in Muslim societies worldwide.

The 1.3 billion Muslims need to stand up now and demand that the radical Islamists cease hijacking their faith, and they need to come up with some way to bring it into the 21st Century.
Muslim theologians must revise their understanding of Islamic law, and recognize that punishment for apostasy is merely the legacy of historical circumstances and political calculations stretching back to the early days of Islam. Such punishments run counter to the clear Koranic injunction "Let there be no compulsion in religion" (2:256).

People of goodwill of every faith and nation must unite to ensure the triumph of religious freedom and of the "right" understanding of Islam, to avert global catastrophe and spare millions of others the fate of Sudan's great religious and political leader, Mahmoud Muhammad Taha, who was executed on a false charge of apostasy. The millions of victims of "jihadist" violence in Sudan -- whose numbers continue to rise every day -- would have been spared if Taha's vision of Islam had triumphed instead of that of the extremists.

The greatest challenge facing the contemporary Muslim world is to bring our limited, human understanding of Islamic law into harmony with its divine spirit -- in order to reflect God's mercy and compassion, and to bring the blessings of peace, justice and tolerance to a suffering world.

The writer is a former president of Indonesia. From 1984 to 1999 he directed the Nadhlatul Ulama, the world's largest Muslim organization. He serves as senior adviser and board member to LibForAll Foundation, an Indonesian- and U.S.-based nonprofit that works to reduce religious extremism and terrorism.


Gus Van Horn blogged What the Islamic world needs instead of some fatwa mandating tolerance is what the Christian world got during the Renaissance and the Enlightenment and still has to a lesser extent today -- a recognition that there exists a law independent of alleged divine fiat and claims of inspired knowledge. Moslems need to accept in some meaningful way that their own lives on this earth are valuable in and of themselves, and so recognize that the surest way to protect their lives is to live in accordance with natural law. Most importantly, they must permit natural law to supercede religious law as unprovable and open to the wildest of interpretations. And if they love their lives, they will, because they will understand how the "divine law" espoused by others can ruin their lives or end them altogether.

2 comments:

Zeeshan Suhail said...

Hi Don,
While I like the fact that you give significant attention to Islam and the struggles Muslims are going through, you dont highlight anything that can constructively add to the debate. Instead, of recommending that "Muslim pedophiles should be made eunuchs" why dont you recommend some legal action that will help contain the problem? Or better yet, why dont you listen to an authentic Muslim scholar debate these and other issues?
Your blog scares me because it is reminscent of the thought process a lot of Americans espouse; one in which events, people and ideas are taken at face value. Perhaps you should do some research of your own and not just quote other bloggers who are on the same wavelength as you.
Muslims are civilized people who have much more in common with the Judeo-Christian tradition than the general public thinks, but unfortunately, Bush is helping destroy that and much more.
The clash is not between civilization and lack thereof, but between whose interpretation of right and wrong is better.
Zeeshan

Don Singleton said...

While I like the fact that you give significant attention to Islam and the struggles Muslims are going through, you dont highlight anything that can constructively add to the debate.

In this post I said The 1.3 billion Muslims need to stand up now and demand that the radical Islamists cease hijacking their faith, and they need to come up with some way to bring it into the 21st Century., and in other posts I have encouraged reasoned debate with the moderate Muslims. If you would like, I would be happy to engage with such a debate with you.

Instead, of recommending that "Muslim pedophiles should be made eunuchs" why dont you recommend some legal action that will help contain the problem?

If they are in this country, I recommend that all pedophiles should be imprisoned for a very long time. I dont recall when I said the quote you made, but I suspect it was associated with countries with Sharia law.

Or better yet, why dont you listen to an authentic Muslim scholar debate these and other issues?

What do authentic Muslim scholars say about pedophiles?

Your blog scares me because it is reminscent of the thought process a lot of Americans espouse; one in which events, people and ideas are taken at face value. Perhaps you should do some research of your own and not just quote other bloggers who are on the same wavelength as you.

I have. For example the first paragraph refers to the death penalty Sharia law applies to people that leave Islam, even though Surah 2:256 says “There is no compulsion in religion…” Surah 16:82 says “Then, if they turn away, your duty (O Muhammad) is only to convey (the Message) in a clear way.”; Surah 42:48 says “But if they turn away (from Islam). We have not sent you as a Hafiz (watcher, protector) over them (to take care of their deeds and to recompense them). Your duty is to convey (the Message)…”; and Surah 88:21-22 says “And so, (O Prophet!) exhort them, your task is only to exhort; you cannot compel them to believe.”

Muslims are civilized people who have much more in common with the Judeo-Christian tradition than the general public thinks, but unfortunately, Bush is helping destroy that and much more.
The clash is not between civilization and lack thereof, but between whose interpretation of right and wrong is better.


I disagree. Bush and I both have said that Islam is an honorable faith, and that the small number of Islamists that hijacked airplanes and flew them into buildings are also hijacking the Islamic faith.

He has been a little too accepting of organizations like CAIR than I think he should, but both of believe that the answer is for Moderate Muslims to grab control of their faith back from the extremists, anb bring it into the 21st Century.