Casus belli?
Turkey is preparing to publish a document that represents a revolutionary reinterpretation of Islam – and a controversial and radical modernisation of the religion.
The country’s powerful Department of Religious Affairs has commissioned a team of theologians at Ankara University to carry out a fundamental revision of the Hadith, the second most sacred text in Islam after the Koran.
The Hadith is a collection of thousands of sayings reputed to come from the Prophet Muhammad.
As such, it is the principal guide for Muslims in interpreting the Koran and the source of the vast majority of Islamic law, or Sharia.
This is kind of akin to the Christian Reformation. Not exactly the same, but… it’s changing the theological foundations of [the] religion
Fadi Hakura,
Turkey expert, Chatham HouseIslam series: Modern roles
But the Turkish state has come to see the Hadith as having an often negative influence on a society it is in a hurry to modernise, and believes it responsible for obscuring the original values of Islam.
It says that a significant number of the sayings were never uttered by Muhammad, and even some that were need now to be reinterpreted.
Read the rest.
Frank Pulley sends this great Wafa Sultan rant link.
Meanwhile: Got to shuck and shmooze if you want to woo the Joos,
And you know it don’t come easy.
Repeat after me, Mekka-lekka hi mekka hopey ho!
Mekka-lekka hi mekka changey ho!..
Mola-mekka chala mekka hola hayla hey!…
The wish is granted. Long live Bambi!
(a serr8d joint)
Yesterday’s “Egg as a Person” post got a lot of reaction (h/t nishi).
Here’s the flip side: When is a person not a person?
Turkey is preparing to publish a document that represents a revolutionary reinterpretation of Islam – and a controversial and radical modernisation of the religion.
What could possibly go wrong with this? Out of the stone age and into the bronze age?
The splodeydopes are not going to be happy. Good advice. Stay away from people in wheelchairs in Turkey. And retards.
That’s neat I guess. About Turkey. Something tells me the BBC knows what they’re doing in spinning it as a “radical revision” though. I don’t think they know what to make of this, but they want to get the message out to those that will is what this feels like.
Also that seems like an odd formulation, the hijacking and all.
will we witness religious wars then( like in medieval Europe) between the Muslim reformers and AQ, Saudi or whatever else brand of Islam ?
We’re already witnessing that a lot really. I thought so anyway.
Stay away from people in wheelchairs in Turkey. And retards.
JD – Do you include nishi in the last category? She claims to know things, but when pressed it turns out to be all bullshit.
HF at #5.
We’re witnessing AQ waging war on the Western interests and collaborators in the terrorism form.
I would like to see the Muslim “reformers” to open the war on them back
Oh. Clarity you mean? I think that’s more of an in theory thing than something that you’ll be able to point at and say these ones are good and these ones are bad. Reformers what are good at anti-reformer jihad are not necessarily the goal I don’t think, but it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.
Unless this document has the Prophet proclaiming that those Armenians had it coming, this is a big deal. Challenging Muslim hegemony is a good thing and should be encouraged whenever possible, not only to promote the modernization (to any extent) of Islam but also to use dissent and differences to our advantage.
Islam is a third Indonesian, a good part middle class Indian, and the rest is a mix of Sunni, Shiite, Persian, Arab, nationalist, internationalist, jihadist, secularist, immigrant, clannish, primitive, modern, militarist, and leave-me-the-hell-alone-ist. On the whole, it’s backwards, a couple of centuries behind the Western world in most ways, and is doing a lot to be demonized. But little things like a Turkish document can give a little hope now and then.
Hey Turkey! More like that, please. And get the hell out of Iraq, too.
Off-topic and all that, but the news of Buckley’s passing was a sad shock earlier today.
I love Wafa. She’s gotta be in it for the money so what she says has to be discounted, at least I’m waiting for nishi to pop up and say that like she has about Hirsan Ali and Robert Spencer.
Interestingly, and possibly linked, is the fact that it is the Turkish Parliament that ostensibly has the authority to proclaim a new Caliph.
That’s going to stir up a metric ton of fan-blade-intercepted-feces.
Geez, it probably has little- no, wait, nothing to do with getting Turkey into the EU.
Islam has no centralized power structure from which to impose reforms. Or against which to fight for them. It’s just another “school of thought” of which there are so many others.
The only way this so-called reform is significant in any way, shape, or form is if it is “marketed” as the most correct of the Islamic schools of thought and becomes so.
Otherwise, the extremists will still own that high ground and will continue to be the face of Islam.
I think the Turk has finally had it with the wahabbist upstarts. The Saudis may have stepped on one too many sets of toes with their “true” interpretation of Islam, and are going to get it back.
Yeah but jdm it’s kind of a nice little acknowledgment that even mainstream Islam is a bit twisted. That’s toothpaste that’s not in the tube anymore and if you wanted to put it back in the tube you wouldn’t have a lot of luck. So I guess you either have to use it pretty quick or just rinse it down the drain.
It also kind of depends on how much of it there is. Use your best judgment I guess.
I think the Turk has finally had it with the wahabbist upstarts.
Perhaps. But I will note that Turkey has moved an awful long ways from “Through the abusive interpretation of ignorant and filthy priests … Islam, this absurd theology of an immoral Bedouin, is a rotting corpse which poisons our lives.” (Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey) towards “Mohammad is just alright with me”.
And yes, hf, while it may seem to be a “nice little acknowledgment”, it cost Turkey nothing. A scrap of paper. It exists solely to help Turkey get into the EU.
Oh. Back to Plan A then.
Oh. Back to Plan A then.
;-)
If the Turks reform, does that mean the Shriners are going to have to get rid of their fezzes and those little cars they drive around? I know the hats originated in Greece, but most people associate them with the Ottoman Empire. I’d hate to see the Shriners reform too, they do so much good.
The Saudis still have Mecca. And the oil. And the Wahabbis. The Turks have as much chance of pulling this off as Andrew Sullivan has of forcing gay marriage on the Catholic Church. Probably less, since the Pope isn’t sending the Swiss Guards out to assasinate heretics.
Let’s all hold our breath, shall we?
Yay! Allahlanche!
[…] Repeat after me, Mekka-lekka hi mekka hopey ho! Mekka-lekka hi mekka changey ho!.. Mola-mekka chala mekka hola hayla hey!… The wish is granted. Long live Bambi! […]
islam is a peaceful religion.
i have many muslim friends who are religious they are very good people.
muslims are cool people i everyday meet hundreds.
Barack obama is also following Bush Polices almost.
no reformation of muslims needed need is to end injustice the main reason of all this voilence.