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The Challenge of Modernizing Islam: Reformers Speak Out and the Obstacles They Face
The entire foreign policy and much of the domestic policy of the United States and other Western governments are based on the proposition that the vast majority of Muslims are moderate and peaceful, including those who are emigrating in large numbers to Europe and North America. But as Islamist groups and many mosques radicalize peaceful Muslims and appeal to the teachings of the Koran, Hadith, and Sunnah, it is imperative for moderates and reformists to articulate a vision of Islam and an exegesis of Islamic texts that can withstand the challenge of Islamists and the ulema who have declared the sanctity and immutability of the text. Instead, they must re-establish a firm foundation of Islam that is modernized, genuinely peaceful, tolerant, pluralistic, and compatible with secular governance, the freedom of speech, human rights, and equality.
The Challenge of Modernizing Islam is the first major effort to provide that foundation. Veteran journalist Christine Douglass-Williams interviews foremost moderate and reformist Muslims in the Western world. She asks them tough questions about how they deal with problematic Koran passages, how they intend to get their message across to the Muslim world, and more.
Their answers are revelatory, even in the ways in which they disagree with one another. Douglass-Williams has captured the Islamic Reformist movement in its full intellectual ferment, laying bare the tensions and triumphs of the Reformers. In the book's second half, she adds a crucial series of searingly honest and illuminating reflections on the challenges the reformers face, the chances they have of succeeding, and the implications of their struggle for the future of the Western world and of all free people.
Illuminating, engaging, and thought-provoking, The Challenge of Modernizing Islam is an essential text for understanding the future of the United States and the West, and the implications of Muslim moderates' struggle for the free world.
The Challenge of Modernizing Islam is the first major effort to provide that foundation. Veteran journalist Christine Douglass-Williams interviews foremost moderate and reformist Muslims in the Western world. She asks them tough questions about how they deal with problematic Koran passages, how they intend to get their message across to the Muslim world, and more.
Their answers are revelatory, even in the ways in which they disagree with one another. Douglass-Williams has captured the Islamic Reformist movement in its full intellectual ferment, laying bare the tensions and triumphs of the Reformers. In the book's second half, she adds a crucial series of searingly honest and illuminating reflections on the challenges the reformers face, the chances they have of succeeding, and the implications of their struggle for the future of the Western world and of all free people.
Illuminating, engaging, and thought-provoking, The Challenge of Modernizing Islam is an essential text for understanding the future of the United States and the West, and the implications of Muslim moderates' struggle for the free world.
322 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 18, 2017
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July 25, 2017
Islam is a political ideology, therefore it cannot be reformed
Islam is a political ideology that uses god’s name to impose its will and authority on non-believers. It contrasts the political philosophy of Marxism, Leninism and Capitalism that is based on social, economic and political concepts. Enforcing a belief using god’s name is a powerful tool and perhaps lasting than economic based ideologies. Muslims hide behind a notion of being the followers of a faith. In the 21st century, we don’t see many people screaming Jesus Christ, Moses, Krishna or Buddha with hatchets, guns or literally running over innocent people on the streets with an automobile. Recently, National Security Adviser Michael Flynn called “It’s like cancer, and it’s like a malignant cancer, though in this case that has metastasized.”
In a world of political correctness, the race, ethnicity, class and fear of being labeled as Islamophobic has manipulated the system to the full advantage of Muslims and their application of sharia law. The political leaders and the media are too willing to submit to the will of Muslims. The lack of knowledge of Muslim values and their culture in western World have been manipulated by Islamists. They are a population that believes that god wants women to wear hijab, niqab, or burqa. Progressively the West has adopted sharia blasphemy laws. In July 2017, Muslim terrorists targeted Jews in Israel, Hindus in India, Christians in Egypt, and Buddhists in Thailand. According to the Jihad Watch Report of Jul 08, 2017 - Jul 14, 2017, there were 37 attacks; 207 killed; 196 injured; 8 suicide blasts, all in 37 countries. The Quran contains at least 109 verses that speak of war with nonbelievers, usually on the basis of their status as non-Muslims. Some are quite graphic, with commands to chop off heads and fingers and kill infidels wherever they may be hiding. Quran 5:51, says "O you who believe! Do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people." In Quran 5:82, we find “You will find the most violent in enmity to the (Islamic) believers are the Jews…” Quran 5:44, “Indeed We revealed the Torah to Moses, in which there is guidance and light: By its laws, all the Prophets, who were Muslims, judged those who call themselves Jews and so did the rabbis and jurists of law….”
Speaking in Warsaw, Poland, President Trump challenged that whether the West has the will to survive, and do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it?
The author of this book has interviewed several Muslim leaders to find ways to overcome the oppression of Sharia law, but this is a futile attempt. Most Muslims like to defend their faith and the privileged use of Sharia law. The religion comes first in all their arguments and the common-sense comes last; whereas for most non-Muslims, common-sense comes first. The evidence is all around us. For example, in Indian Kashmir, Afghanistan, Iraq and other Islamic countries, women followed Western traditions and wore Western cloths, but they have changed and progressively moved back to medieval age.
Islam is a political ideology that uses god’s name to impose its will and authority on non-believers. It contrasts the political philosophy of Marxism, Leninism and Capitalism that is based on social, economic and political concepts. Enforcing a belief using god’s name is a powerful tool and perhaps lasting than economic based ideologies. Muslims hide behind a notion of being the followers of a faith. In the 21st century, we don’t see many people screaming Jesus Christ, Moses, Krishna or Buddha with hatchets, guns or literally running over innocent people on the streets with an automobile. Recently, National Security Adviser Michael Flynn called “It’s like cancer, and it’s like a malignant cancer, though in this case that has metastasized.”
In a world of political correctness, the race, ethnicity, class and fear of being labeled as Islamophobic has manipulated the system to the full advantage of Muslims and their application of sharia law. The political leaders and the media are too willing to submit to the will of Muslims. The lack of knowledge of Muslim values and their culture in western World have been manipulated by Islamists. They are a population that believes that god wants women to wear hijab, niqab, or burqa. Progressively the West has adopted sharia blasphemy laws. In July 2017, Muslim terrorists targeted Jews in Israel, Hindus in India, Christians in Egypt, and Buddhists in Thailand. According to the Jihad Watch Report of Jul 08, 2017 - Jul 14, 2017, there were 37 attacks; 207 killed; 196 injured; 8 suicide blasts, all in 37 countries. The Quran contains at least 109 verses that speak of war with nonbelievers, usually on the basis of their status as non-Muslims. Some are quite graphic, with commands to chop off heads and fingers and kill infidels wherever they may be hiding. Quran 5:51, says "O you who believe! Do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people." In Quran 5:82, we find “You will find the most violent in enmity to the (Islamic) believers are the Jews…” Quran 5:44, “Indeed We revealed the Torah to Moses, in which there is guidance and light: By its laws, all the Prophets, who were Muslims, judged those who call themselves Jews and so did the rabbis and jurists of law….”
Speaking in Warsaw, Poland, President Trump challenged that whether the West has the will to survive, and do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it?
The author of this book has interviewed several Muslim leaders to find ways to overcome the oppression of Sharia law, but this is a futile attempt. Most Muslims like to defend their faith and the privileged use of Sharia law. The religion comes first in all their arguments and the common-sense comes last; whereas for most non-Muslims, common-sense comes first. The evidence is all around us. For example, in Indian Kashmir, Afghanistan, Iraq and other Islamic countries, women followed Western traditions and wore Western cloths, but they have changed and progressively moved back to medieval age.
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