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| Iraq |
| New Iraqi school spans chasms between religions |
| 2003-10-07 |
| By Hassan Fattah Special to The Christian Science Monitor EFL Hat tip: Brothers Judd HILLA, IRAQ - Just outside the sprawling mosque that used to be known as the Saddam Hussein Mosque in Hilla, a somber memorial recalls the city?s dark history. On one end, an outstretched hand rises towards the sky, steel rods jutting from it to signify lost souls rising to heaven. Just below it lie the 76 graves of unidentified victims of Mr. Hussein?s regime found in a mass grave in Hilla last May, separated by a stream from a fountain. Around the statue, scriptures from the Bible, the Torah, and the Koran offer prayers for the victim?s souls. For the Hilla School of Religion, which took over the mosque and requisitioned the memorial, it?s meant as a dramatic statement in a town that prefers not to discuss the issue of the mass graves. Indeed, in the most unlikely of places, an unlikely school has begun raising critical questions about faith, humanity, and religion. Founded six months ago by a Shiite scholar, the institution bills itself as the Arab world?s only school of theology, teaching Muslim, Christian, and Judaic texts. In a town full of deep-seated sorrow, the statue may best embody the school?s credo of breaking down barriers and asking dangerous questions. "This is a school of theology, not of Islam," said Sheikh Faris al-Shareef, professor of Islamic law and philosophy at the school. "There is one thing that unites all of us: God and his prophets. With that realization, you can teach all theologies." And by discussing all theologies, many of the school?s largely Muslim leadership insist, Islam itself can be reinterpreted and rethought. . . . The ultimate goal, says Sheikh Farqad al-Quzwini, the school?s founder and dean of its 25 or so faculty members, is to get at answers to the vexing religious problems that left Iraq, and perhaps much of the Muslim world, in its current state. "For 35 years, Iraqis have feared nothing but Saddam," says Mr. Quzwini, a giant man who wears the headdress of a Shiite cleric. "What?s supposed to happen now is that humanity must stop firing the bullets; the language itself has to change. We must fix the Iraqi before we can fix Iraq." |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #5 It will grow. I don't know that I would want to be the first Provost, though. Kinda like being the GM of an expansion team. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-10-7 7:38:41 PM |
| #4 A rare gem indeed. But let us hope it's a seed rather than a mere gem. Seeds grow, gems just look pretty. |
| Posted by: Kathy K 2003-10-7 6:50:14 PM |
| #3 Mr. Quzwini is a brave man. Unfortunately, the life expectancy for brave men and women with principles in Iraq, Somalia and North Korea is not too high. Kind of contrasts with the "bravery" demonstrated by the Dixie Chicks and the like. |
| Posted by: Superhose 2003-10-7 12:45:12 PM |
| #2 This has got to be one of the rarest gems you could find in any culture, much less Iraq. I only hope the place will survive the inevitable Ba'athist and jihadi backlash once the word spreads. |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-10-7 11:40:48 AM |
| #1 "Around the statue, scriptures from the Bible, the Torah, and the Koran offer prayers for the victim?s souls." Reading that raised goosebumps. That and a few other things I've read lately brings-up the question:Could the disease of sanity and reason be spreading in the Muslim World? |
| Posted by: Raptor 2003-10-7 7:43:19 AM |