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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Split within Shiism in Iran |
| 2010-01-15 |
| To varying degrees, thinkers and theologians identified with the democratic movement have been offering a new reading of Shiism that makes the faith more amenable to democracy and secularism. The most significant innovation—found in essays, sermons, books, and even fatwas—is the acceptance of the separation of mosque and state, the idea that religion must be limited to the private domain. The clear target of these new teachings is the Ayatollah Khamenei. At the time of his ascension, he was merely a junior cleric. Khamenei has angrily resisted this revolt within the clergy. Several seminaries and residences of these reformist ayatollahs have been attacked by hired mobs working for the regime. Then there's the case of the Ayatollah Sanei. As I have mentioned, he is one of the most important thinkers in this new movement. But he has, in recent days, been declared unfit to be an ayatollah by the influential Qom-based cleric Ayatollah Yazdi, notorious for his corruption and conservatism. Yazdi's statement is ominous. Sanei, who has been accepted as an ayatollah for more than twenty years, is now accused of issuing dangerous fatwas. |
| Posted by:lord garth |
| #6 g(r)omgoru: There's a lot of potential depth in traditional Islam than we see today. Islam had something of a "midpoint", when its sense of philosophy and science peaked, in about the 11th Century, but which ironically lead to its "freezing of thought" and intellectual stagnation since. This has been attributed to Islam's perhaps greatest philosopher, Al-Ghazali: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Ghazali The interpretation of whose works eventually shut down most science and technological study in the Muslim world, resulting in the stagnant and decrepit Islam seen today. However, there are now Islamic scholars who are trying to break the ice with a Reformation of Islam, if they can just overcome the intellectual logjam and inertia. Hopefully the end result will be as divorced from traditional Islam as the Universal Life Church is from Greek Orthodox Christian. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-01-15 20:13 |
| #5 Wich part of "Without it [Jihad = stealing from us] they'd just die out because they cannot compete on our terms" you did't understand Anonymoose? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-01-15 17:43 |
| #4 g(r)omgoru: But that's precisely the point. Reform in religion is to ignore the literal, and with a straight face, reinterpret it to mean something completely different. An excellent example of this in Islam would be to change the meaning of Jihad, from an external act to an internal one. That good Muslims must have Jihad within themselves, but never express it outwardly, or direct it at others. Another trick is to change the emphasis of parts of religion, downgrading the violent parts and upgrading the peaceful parts. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-01-15 16:40 |
| #3 IMO, Islam cannot be fixed---because it's not broken. To wit, it's a perfect ideology for people who profess it. Without it they'd just die out because they cannot compete on our terms. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-01-15 16:23 |
| #2 I don't know, grom, it sounds a lot like the Islamic Reformation everyone's been asking for, or at least an approximation of the pre-reformation Erastian humanist precursors. On the other hand, it could be a western mis-conception of conservative anti-vilayet el faqih sentiment. It's important to remember that the Iranian Revolution is based on a Shia heresy, not settled doctrine. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2010-01-15 09:54 |
| #1 Reminds me of erstwhile "Sovient Experts" bull. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-01-15 05:34 |