Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!



Recent Entries
Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022
Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022
OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups






















« Germany: There's More To It Than Hitler, You Know! | Main | Ted Kennedy Endorses Mapesian/Ratherian "Fake But Accurate" Standard »
December 27, 2005

Threadjack: Intelligent Design, Science, and the Constitution, Again

WAS: Moderate Muslims To Challenge Islamofascists' Fatwas

It's the discussion that keeps popping up. Scan down in the comments if you're interested.

(Original post follows.)

From Allah. No, the one who blogs.

It's becoming known as the war of the fatwas: the dizzying exchange of proclamations between Islamic moderates and militants on what it means to be Muslim. The duels have been waged everywhere from pamphlets to cyberspace. Now some Muslim leaders seek to shift tactics against radicals. Their hope rests in one of Islam's most elemental questions: Who has the real authority to make religious rulings and other interpretations of the faith?

Proposals to sharply control the issuing of fatwas β€” the nonbinding edicts on Muslim life, law and duties β€” are still little more than loose concepts and would require potentially stormy challenges to Islam's traditions of decentralized leadership.

But there are some influential backers such as Jordan's King Abdullah II. They argue that bold changes are needed in Islam's hierarchy to isolate radical clerics and discredit terrorist leaders, including Osama bin Laden, who have used self-styled religious decrees to justify their views and actions.

Abdullah, who brought his anti-terrorist message to Athens last week, has appealed for moderate Muslims to take decisive control over fatwas and religious guidance. In early December, Abdullah told the 56-member Organization of the Islamic Conference that failure to establish a clear framework to interpret Islam leaves the door open for radicals to strengthen their ranks.

The summit in Mecca, Saudi Arabia β€” Islam's holiest site β€” wrapped up with a statement reinforcing that only "those who are authorized" can issue fatwas. The monarchs, prime ministers and other delegates, however, could reach little common ground on a proposal to give a single body of Islamic law experts greater oversight of all fatwas covering the Muslim world.

Sometimes reform requires decentralization, as the Catholic Church needed in the 1500's. (Or, rather, it at least needed the challenge of the Protestant movement to clean up.) Maybe sometimes reform requires centralization.

The trouble is that people believe what and whom they wish to believe, and a quasi-official Islamic heirarchy condeming terrorism is unlikely to convince murderers that Islam means peace.

Real change is likely to come when, say, Iran's youth demands democracy, whiskey, sexy, or when Saudi women are permitted to read the "Arab Sex and the City."

From the first link in the above paragraph:

Mohsen Kadivar, a mid-ranking cleric and philosophy lecturer whose views landed him in prison a few years back, told Reuters that young people in secular Turkey were more interested in religion than those in Iran. "This shows that religion is voluntary. Forcing it on society has the opposite effect," he said.

Keep forcing it on them, then. A wise woman once said, "The tighter you clutch your fist, Lord Vader, the more systems will slip through your fingers."


Thanks to Allah for all those good links.


digg this
posted by Ace at 09:41 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
Altaria Pilgram: "According to Consumer Reports Land Rover had the h ..."

Grumpy and Recalcitrant: "Still no snowplow for my road... C'mon guys it's ..."

A mouse, probably: "@168/Rufus T. Firefly: Chuck Schumer stole my che ..."

Rufus T. Firefly: ">>>>Give her a break. Women don't know how to gril ..."

blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1): " My best memory of San Francisco was all the art m ..."

Grumpy and Recalcitrant: "@63/FenelonSpoke: "[i]Maybe if I learned to type ..."

blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1): "Speaking of insurance companies, I had a lump remo ..."

free adult sex chat: "Probably not, however I would not hug folks or run ..."

FINGERS: "OUTSTANDING ONT! ..."

Antifa Goons, Who Do Not Exist: "Hopefully, The CEO of Microsoft will visit New Yor ..."

Altaria Pilgram: "We may have a hint about what motivated the UHC sh ..."

Hadrian the Seventh: " [i]Give her a break. Women don't know how to gri ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64