SECULAR MUSLIMS: Does Islam need reformation?
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/032507/opl_8824729.shtml
"Over the last two decades, we have seen a vast number of efforts to
reform Islam so it would be more compatible to Western values.
Several small, proclaimed reform movements are trying to correct the
assumed wrongness of Islam and call for an Islamic reformation.
These self-proclaimed secularists represent only a small minority of
Muslims. The majority of Muslims, not only in the United States but
worldwide, have different opinions. Yet, the media, governments and
neoconservative pundits pay more attention to the secular minority.
The secular Muslim agenda is promoted because these ideas reflect a
Western vision for the future of Islam.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, many people, including high-ranking
officials in the Bush administration, have prescribed to a preferred
remedy for Islam: Reform the faith so it is imbued with Western values
- the privatization of religion and outsourcing democracy.
The rulers in Muslim countries who are secular are labeled good
Muslims. The problem with this prescription is that it is far from
reality.
Consider the facts: Islamic renaissance has spread across the globe in
the past 60 years from the East to West.
In Egypt, it is hard to find a woman on the street who does not wear a
head scarf.
Islamic political groups and movements are on the rise. Even in the
United States, more and more Americans are curious about Islam,
particularly the young. Some are embracing Islam.
In Europe and the United States, where Muslims have maximum exposure
to Western culture, they are increasingly embracing Islamic values.
In Britain, a growing number of Muslims advocate creating a court
system based upon Islamic principles.
What all this means is that Western hopes for full integration by
Muslims in the West are unlikely to be realized, and the future of the
Islamic world will be much more Islamic than Western.
Instead of championing the loud voices of the secular minority who are
capturing media attention with their conferences, manifestos and
memoirs, the United States would be wise instead to pay more attention
to the far less loquacious majority."
MOHAMMAD ILYAS, M.D., Jacksonville
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