To Fix Islam, Start From the Inside

Islam does not need fixing. Practicing Muslims know this. It is ignorance that must be handled; be it the ignorance of those living in Muslim lands yet not obeying the laws of Islam, or those in positions of power that continue to intrepret and impose religion to serve their needs, or the western politicians and media who love to involve any episode of a Muslim gone wrong on Islam (though we never have the same tendency to blame Christianity when Christians commit attrocities). I'm afraid articles like this just don't help. Highlight the super-extreme instances and get ratings, yet forego the actual so called effect you are trying to implore-uhmm the article was about winning over the Muslims right? Though the article wondered off without making a point, I shall keep mine simple: Islam does not need fixing. Muslim women don't need Western interference.

Islamic men must be the most insecure men on the planet to go to such extreme and violent methods to assure that the only way they can keep their women is by threat of public lashing and death.
Not to mention how they force the women to cover themselves from head-to-toe so their fellow Muslim brothers won't be tempted to try to steal each others wives.
To live in such fear and distrust of their women seems to me to be a pretty patheticway to exist.
No wonder they hate the world.

.



The author here is all wet. To suppose that the giving of microcredit to Islamic women will somehow end the terrorism pervasive in the Muslim world is to drown in the Kool-Aid. Women in the Muslim world, from what we in the West can see, are the most downtrodden segment of that population. They are beaten, have acid thrown in their faces, and summarily shot - or, as the author points out - stoned to death.

Marx had it right when he said that "religion is the opiate of the masses", for that is what it truly is. Islam, in particular, seems bent on resolutely staying in the ninth century with all its accompanying ignorance. Indeed, religion flourishes best in the cesspool of ignorance. For years the spread of Islam in the US was through prisons.

And it matters not what is written in any book, including the Q'uran and the Bible. They are both works of pure and utter fiction, written by men to persuade, manipulate, and control other - ignorant - men. Are we really to believe that some downtrodden Islamic woman learned to read and, in the reading of a holy passage, was able to instantly stop her husband from beating her - a custom he had previously enjoyed with impunity? I seriously doubt it.

That is not to say that the Muslim world's natural state is ignorance. On the contrary, Muslim empires of the past have displayed great learning, art, and tolerance. So what happened? They threw it all away and now the shattered remanants of what used to be demand the world's "respect"! Please.

Nor does Islam speak with a single voice. In fact, the Islamic silence since 9/11 has been defeaning. This is the clearest sign of its true sentiments. No principal Islamic cleric nor congregation has publicly condemned either the acts of 9/11 or the ensuing global terrorism. Why not?

Islam would not be where it is today were it not for the West's collective dependence on oil. We in the West have the knowledge and talent to free ourselves from this drug but, sadly, we seem to lack the will. Now that oil prices have fallen our determination to free ourselves will be sapped all the more. How fitting that such a black, smelly, sticky, polluting, and explosive substance should be concentrated in the Middle East. If there is a god, he surely has a sense of humor - not to mention irony!

Finally, we should have seen it coming. We certainly seem to have had some intelligence that a threat using airliners was imminent in 2201. But, beyond that, we should have seen it coming when the Marine baracks were suicide bombed in Beirut. We should have seen it with Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. We should have seen it at the Munich Olympics. Had we acted decisively then, we might not be in the fix we find ourselves in today.

Unfortunately, we find ourselves dealing with rabid dogs. Like any rabid animal, the best way to deal with it is to put it down.



.

First of all let me clarify certian facts about Irshad Manji (the writer). Miss Manji I watched your program "Faith without Fear" on public TV (CHANNEL 13) a while ago and learnd about you. Since then I have been trying to contact you but haven't been successfull.
Its shame, Disgrace and Tragic that we the Muslims have individuals like Miss. manji, who have no understanding of the teaching of Islam, who have little to no understanding of the fundamentals of Islam and have no understandings about the logic and philosophy behind the strict rules about punishment and rewards. Not only this the same so called new ideologists and liberal Muslims never read the message of islam (Quran) fully and only talk selectively about certian harsh and strict rules laid out about killing others, adultery, steeling and drinking alcohol. The very same unfortunate so called Muslim come with new and self created explanations of Islamic believes and teachings.
Islam is the religion created for the welfare of mankind and the whole philosophy of Islamic teaching and rules and regulations are meant to create an ideal Human society where no one could hurt anyone, where follower enjoys equal rights, weher women have the rights to make decisions about their future and life, where women are protected from abuse and violence, where men are obligated to fullfill their responsibilities towards women. And above all its ISLAM that hedl DISOBEDIENCE of parents a major sin that Allah will not forgive. Its ISLAM that said a Muslim can't achieve a status of a beloved one to Allah and prophet Mohammad )peace be upon him) untill and unless he/she doesn't obey, respect and scarifice his.her needs for his/her mother's. And its ISLAM that forbids a Muslim even to raise his/her voice before their mother/parents.
Miss. Manji islamic believes can't be ammended and interpreted based upon personal likes and dislikes. Islam makes five times prayers mendatory and your prayer (thanking god for the day in the morning after waking up, as you mentioned during your faith without fear interview) can't substitue it, Islamic obligation of ZAKAT is to creat a sense of sharing and inclusion of less fortunate in the society and nothing can substitu ite, Sacrifice (slaughtering of animals) on EID UL ADHA has to be carried out and nothing can substitue it. Similarly the concept of killing a killer is to creat a sense of value of human life, death for adultery is to keep human race clean and pure ( we in the US can very well see the significance of this based upon the fact that many social problems of western society are due to freedom of sex) Similarly prohibition of use of alcohol is for the same reasons, as it leads to many social problems due to fact after consuming alcohol an individual loses his judgement and can't differentiate right from wrong and we see lots of problems even traffic deaths due to alcohol consumption.
Continued in next.

ANYONE WHO BELIEVES IN GOD IS NUTS ANYWAY? AT LEAST THE GENTILE'S WERE TOLERABLE,BUT THIS MUSLIM NONSENSE MUST BE STOPPED

To saul 522.
I agree that no nation religion or region is exempt from social problems caused by culture and ignorance.I cannot claim to have read the entire quran but i have read parts of it as well as a number of books written about islam and especially mohammed who i think was a remarkable man.The problem however is not entirely culture or ignorance,there are parts of the Quran which if read and interpreted literally can lead to the idea that violence or jihad is sometimes necessary and should be prosecuted until the other side is defeated and made to feel subdued.Another issue as you mention is with the Hadith and sunnah of the prophet which some muslims seem to feel have justified their actions and beliefs about other religions.
.So the problem that really need to be fixed is how to deal with individuals or groups that single out these passages to justify their actions ,because they are not wrong,they are muslims and they can point to chapter and verse in the quran,hadith and Sunnah where their actions and beliefs can be justified to other muslims.
Furthermore i know of many muslims and imams who after 9/11 spoke out against those that commited those horrible acts because they felt it was done by zionists not muslims and who took a long time to accept any evidence to the contrary
.In the end i suspect we do have something in common besides being human and that is that we are fed up with liars and fools.

@user82958 said
"How to fix Islam? The arrogance of the editors at Newsweek is breathtaking."

I quote from the article: "But as a faithful, feminist Muslim, I..." Unless I am mistaken, Irshad Manji would appear to be the person who wrote the article, not the editors at Newsweek. Her alleged arrogance is not clear to me

Unfortunatley Irshad Manji, like other progressive muslims, has almost no clout among the Ummah (communtiy of believers). She would probably be considered a radical, or certainly at least an oddity by the vast majority of muslims. Despite her views being printed in western media, the Islamic world is not listening to her voice. Essentially she is one of those lone voices crying out in the wilderness, that only the West hears and engages with. If the muslim community ever did start to take her seriously, she would likely eventually have a fatwa issued against her. Islam shows no sign of being able to effect significant positive change in the near or medium term ... and that is unfortunate for everyone.

"fight the infidels until all resistance is destroyed" infidels in the Koran representing all "non believers" -Koran as translated by Gombrich into English. The Koran preaches violence and anyone who says it doesnt isnt being honest with themselves, hats off to the majority non-fundamentalist Islam followers but if countries can still stone women to death, Hezbolla can still hav it in their charter that Isreal does not exist then the majority might need to grow up further and although the old and new bible have through history been interpreted for and in some cases still is for appalling reasons the relative "infancy" of Islam (600ish AD) makes the fundamentalist in our modern society all the more unreasonable, unwaivering and just different.

Although I am not a Muslim, I have many Muslims friends, mostly women. Some were raised in the States, others in Pakistan; one still lives in Saudi Arabia. In our discussions about religion, these women have told me time and again that they do not see Islam as being inherently denigrating to women. It is important to note that, in the Qur'an, when God gives commandments, the masculine AND feminine plurals are used--because in Arabic (as in many other languages) the masculine can be used generally. Women are explicitly included as having rights and responsibilities.
Granted, parts of Islam are harsh, and can be off-putting to Westerners. However, there is a reason that four out of five converts to Islam in the United States are women. I dare say it is because those women, unlike Ixor and Montedoro, understand that true Islam means following the spirit, not just the letter, of the law.