Islam: A Revolution Within

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Tiassa

Tiassa

Let us not launch the boat ...
Valued Senior Member
Source: BBC News
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7264903.stm
Title: "Turkey in radical revision of Islamic texts", by Robert Pigott
Date: February 26, 2008

The news comes as a nearly ineffable surprise. I have a feeling, though, that had I been paying attention, it wouldn't have struck me so suddenly; I would have seen it coming, heard the whispers, read the signs.

There is about to be a tremendous upheaval in Islamic society. The entire world will feel the tremors.

Turkey is preparing to publish a document that represents a revolutionary reinterpretation of Islam - and a controversial and radical modernisation of the religion.

The country's powerful Department of Religious Affairs has commissioned a team of theologians at Ankara University to carry out a fundamental revision of the Hadith, the second most sacred text in Islam after the Koran.

The Hadith is a collection of thousands of sayings reputed to come from the Prophet Muhammad.

As such, it is the principal guide for Muslims in interpreting the Koran and the source of the vast majority of Islamic law, or Sharia.

But the Turkish state has come to see the Hadith as having an often negative influence on a society it is in a hurry to modernise, and believes it responsible for obscuring the original values of Islam.

It says that a significant number of the sayings were never uttered by Muhammad, and even some that were need now to be reinterpreted.

(Pigott)
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Officials in Turkey have stayed somewhat quiet about the project for the controversy they expect this undertaking to incite. Project adviser Felix Koerner told the BBC that some of the sayings can be shown to have been invented well after the prophet's death, with contemporary sociopolitical ambitions in mind.

"Unfortunately you can even justify through alleged hadiths, the Muslim - or pseudo-Muslim - practice of female genital mutilation," he says.

"You can find messages which say 'that is what the Prophet ordered us to do'. But you can show historically how they came into being, as influences from other cultures, that were then projected onto Islamic tradition."

(ibid)
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In addition, scholars are attempting to understand the context of various sayings, which will lead to a reinterpretation of ahadith believed genuinely spoken by the Prophet:

Prof Mehmet Gormez, a senior official in the Department of Religious Affairs and an expert on the Hadith, gives a telling example.

"There are some messages that ban women from travelling for three days or more without their husband's permission and they are genuine.

"But this isn't a religious ban. It came about because in the Prophet's time it simply wasn't safe for a woman to travel alone like that. But as time has passed, people have made permanent what was only supposed to be a temporary ban for safety reasons" ....

.... Prof Gormez points out that in another speech, the Prophet said "he longed for the day when a woman might travel long distances alone".

So, he argues, it is clear what the Prophet's goal was.

(ibid)
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Some of us might suggest that Islam is finally attempting to enter the twenty-first century, and there is merit to the suggestion. But we should on the one hand wait to see what the scholars come up with. And in this age of wars and rumors of wars, it would serve all humanity well that we in the post-Christian West should lend our support and encouragement. Broad issues of social justice wait in hopes of their time in the sun, when we might for once actually help our Muslim neighbors in their struggles with their own humanity, instead of push them away, condemn and threaten.

Peace at last? We cannot expect this soon. But it seems in Turkey they are about to attempt a mighty leap of faith. May their courage find good fortune, and their children a brighter day.
 
The best practitioners of Islam today live in Turkey. What a fabulous country, to balance religion and modernization so eloquently!

Congratulations to Turkey for tackling this issue. Phantom hadiths definitely need to be dumped.
 
Kadark said:
It's bad to countries like Saudi Arabia, as people will see even clearer now how utterly absurd their laws are. For the rest of us, though, it's great news. :)
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Exactly, but the more people see how absurd their laws are the more pressure and influence will be directed towards them to change.
 
It's been pointed out that the history of Islam has tracked eerily close to the history of Christianity, with a 600-year offset. That means Islam is poised to enter its Reformation. The Christian Reformation worked out pretty well--from our perspective, half a millennium later. At the time it was pretty violent.

You can't turn a major religion upside down and shake it, without expecting a whole lot of its more traditional followers to use any means available to try to stop you.
 
Considering that the Turkish "moderate" Muslims use evangelical Christians as their role models of radical religion, I would say, Be careful what you wish for. :D
 
S.A.M. said:
Considering that the Turkish "moderate" Muslims use evangelical Christians as their role models of radical religion, I would say, Be careful what you wish for. :D
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You don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Turkish Muslims exemplify to the highest degree what Islam is all about. Turkish Muslims sustained an open-minded, progressive Empire which lasted 630 years and excluded all medieval forms of Christian dogma. Turkey is the most modern Muslim country on the face of the planet, balancing religion and appropriate secularism in perfect harmony. Your post resembles exactly that of a jealous Indian Muslim, a person who's so ashamed of her own country's system and policy towards Islam that she feels the need to chastize Turkey for being modern and progressive. Don't even get me started on this.
 
If Harun Yahya is an example of the modern Turkish Muslim, I sincerely hope that is not the highest degree that Islam can aspire to.
 
S.A.M. said:
If Harun Yahya is an example of the modern Turkish Muslim, I hope that is not the highest degree of Islam to aspire to.
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Harun Yahya is ONE Turk out of 75 MILLION.

What the hell do you think? He's not a prophet. He only represents himself.
 
S.A.M. said:
If Harun Yahya is an example of the modern Turkish Muslim, I sincerely hope that is not the highest degree that Islam can aspire to.
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Didn't he just say, don't get him started?

:itold:
 
Kadark said:
Harun Yahya is ONE Turk out of 75 MILLION.

What the hell do you think? He's not a prophet. He only represents himself.
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Could you give me some examples of the typical modern Turk? What is the modern Islamic movement in Turkey?

Statements like this can only engender disbelief in me:

In early 1998, Adnan Oktar and the SRF launched a campaign against Darwinism. Thousands of free copies of Adnan Oktar's book, The Evolution Deceit, and the booklets based on this book were distributed within Turkey.

The SRF also spearheaded an effort to attack Turkish academics who taught evolutionary theory. A number of faculty members were harassed, threatened and slandered in fliers that labeled them "Maoists" for teaching evolution.[21] . In 1999, six of the professors won a civil court case against the SRF for defamation and were awarded each with a large amount of money.[21]

In 2005, Professor Ümit Sayın summed up the effect of the SRF's campaign when he said to The Pitch:

In 1998, I was able to motivate six members of the Turkish Academy of Sciences to speak out against the creationist movement. Today, it's impossible to motivate anyone. They're afraid they'll be attacked by the radical Islamists and the BAV
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(Q) said:
Didn't he just say, don't get him started?

:itold:
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He ought to make up his mind. Last week he denounced the reformist movements of the Ottomans as bida. :rolleyes:

This week he's extolling their empire

angry young Turk said:
Turkish Muslims sustained an open-minded, progressive Empire which lasted 630 years and excluded all medieval forms of Christian dogma
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Could you give me some examples of the typical modern Turk?
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Visit Turkey and see for yourself. Nobody represents the Turksih public. Everybody is a unique individual. As a whole, we represent the greatest balance between religion and secularism; tradition and modernization.

Statements like this can only engender disbelief in me:
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So what? Adnan Oktar is a university dropout and a preacher at best.

Turkish scientists confront creationists' theory

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/turkish-scientists-confront-creationists-theory-457164.html

If only you looked hard enough. There are TONS of people who oppose the creationist theory.
 
S.A.M. said:
He ought to make up his mind. Last week he denounced the reformist movements of the Ottomans as bida. :rolleyes:

This week he's extolling their empire
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What do you mean I denounced the reformist movements as a bad idea? Please elaborate.
 
Kadark said:
Visit Turkey and see for yourself. Nobody represents the Turksih public. Everybody is a unique individual. As a whole, we represent the greatest balance between religion and secularism; tradition and modernization.



So what? Adnan Oktar is a university dropout and a preacher at best.

Turkish scientists confront creationists' theory

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/turkish-scientists-confront-creationists-theory-457164.html

If only you looked hard enough. There are TONS of people who oppose the creationist theory.
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I distinctly recall you supporting Adnan Okhtar as the cats pajamas.:confused:
 
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