Islam is Islam even if fried in butter.
From Brunei to Boko Haram: Merely Deflection
Some of the Nigerian schoolgirls who were recently abducted by Boko Haram. (Image source: Boko Haram video)
Inaction on the part of both Nigeria’s government and global powers has led to this latest horrific act of abduction.
Muslims globally cannot remain under the illusion that because they put out press releases or say that Boko Haram is “not Muslim,” they can distance themselves from these crimes. If they do not openly condemn Boko Haram and similar groups such as the Taliban or the Muslim Brotherhood, they are by default supporting those causes.
Recently, on a radio panel about Islamic sharia law featuring two academics from American universities — a Muslim Professor of Islamic Studies and a Christian professor of Religious Studies — it was frustrating trying to keep the conversation on track.
Both professors were preoccupied with “The Golden Age of Islam” and “How Christianity went through a similar crises” and other similarly irrelevant information. The real focus should have been: “What is happening in the name of Islam today and what do we do about the atrocities being perpetrated in the name of sharia as we speak?”
Unfortunately, that question was consistently being buried. For many Muslims and especially Muslim organizations, a discussion about Islam and Muslims usually ends up in defense and deflection. Rarely does the conversation focus on half the population: women. That is the crux of the problem. If women are considered only half-human, why dwell on their human rights?
It is our moral and ethical responsibility, as Muslims, to discuss and debate these issues – even though they may be considered “our dirty laundry.”
But how are we going to get there when the only picture most Muslims want to paint is one of grandeur and glory of the past? One way is to take a step-by-step factual look at what is taking place in the Muslim world.
More here. H/T: Fjordman
All right. So where does one look to find the mysterious non-violent, non-misogynist ‘interpretation’ of Islam the author implies is the antidote for the violent, misogynist one in support of which Boko Haram / the MB / Al Qaeda and the rest are endlessly able to cite chapter and verse? Does this new kind of Islam use a new Quran? Has a new biography of Mohammed been unearthed? Are there previously unknown collections of hadiths? And are those the only aspects of sharia the author proposes ‘rejecting’ (and how would that work, exactly?) This article merely makes a show of addressing the hard questions.
(A comment the Gatestone moderator seems to have found too immoderate, incidentally. Gatestone permitted similar responses to an article by ‘diversity consultant’ Raheel Raza a year ago. Is she now above criticism?)