American University professor Akbar Ahmed admitted as much: "For the first time in history, Muslim civilization is on a direct collision course with all the world religions."
Ahmed said that at this point, he is aggravated that many Muslims won't acknowledge this. "After Sept. 11, there was this mantra, 'We are peaceful, we are peaceful.' After Muslims killed 3,000 people, it makes no sense to me." [ABC]
Why all of this? Again we must look objectively at the sorrowful history:
- Today's sorry situation contrasts starkly with the Islam of yesterday. Between the 9th and 13th centuries — the Golden Age of Islam — the only people doing decent work in science, philosophy or medicine were Muslims. Muslims not only preserved ancient learning, they also made substantial innovations. The loss of this tradition has proven tragic for Muslim peoples.
Science flourished in the Golden Age of Islam because of a strong rationalist and liberal tradition, carried on by a group of Muslim thinkers known as the Mutazilites.
But in the 12th century, Muslim orthodoxy reawakened, spearheaded by the Arab cleric Imam Al-Ghazali. Al-Ghazali championed revelation over reason, predestination over free will. He damned mathematics as being against Islam, an intoxicant of the mind that weakened faith.
Caught in the viselike grip of orthodoxy, Islam choked. No longer would Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars gather and work together in the royal courts. It was the end of tolerance, intellect and science in the Muslim world. The last great Muslim thinker, Abd-al Rahman Ibn Khaldun, belonged to the 14th century.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world moved on. The Renaissance brought an explosion of scientific inquiry in the West. This owed much to translations of Greek works carried out by Arabs and other Muslim contributions, but they were to matter little. Mercantile capitalism and technological progress drove Western countries — in ways that were often brutal and at times genocidal — to rapidly colonize the Muslim world from Indonesia to Morocco. It soon became clear, at least to some of the Muslim elites, that they were paying a heavy price for not possessing the analytical tools of modern science and the social and political values of modern culture — the real source of power of their colonizers. [Washington Post]
But what is happening right now, today? IslamOnline.net is held to be the very soul of Islamic moderation, one that wishes to "present a positive view of the faith to non-Muslims". What do they have to say about the riots?
- Dozens Dead in Nigeria Riots After Paper Slanders Prophet
Article comments
1 - Oliver
Christianity was just fine with slavery, the crusades, and several instances of genocide. That's also supposed to be a "religion of peace". They're all bad.
2 - mary
Every religion has its good points and its bad points - but Muslim fundamentalism is currently responsible for the deaths of millions in the Sudan, the enslavement of Christians there, terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, Pakistan, Yemen... This fundamentalist strain of Islam is a threat to people around the world, and it's not something to ignore.
3 - The Theory
every religion (when used for political purposes) is going to be bad. When a person tries to push his or her own agenda under the cloak of a religion, it discolours the person and the religion.
There are Muslums who are are good and sincere who wouldn't harm a fly, just like the majority of Christians wouldn't either.
But, I think that if one of them (as with anyone) is going for a position of power, they have are going to exploit thier religious beliefs to push thier agendas... wether or not they align with the religion's beliefs.
peace.
4 - Rob
I can understand some of the resentment that the Muslim world has towards the west but this had caused me to lose almost all sympathy for them. It is becoming more and more obvious that the Islamic Fundamentalists have lost ability to reason or communicate. They do not have the right, to tell others how to think or speak.
5 - whatever
Let's not forget that so-called Christian slave traders bought thier raw materials from Islamic slave harvesters
6 - grace
ok, what is like up with these people. Wasn't Muhammad a man too, even though he was a special prophet sent by GOD? He has hormones. He could've gone for the Miss World, who knows and plus wasn't Muhammad for peace? Why are his people resembling violence instead of peace? Even if Muhammad was alive, he wouldn't have killed 100s of people because of some newspaper mistake (plus they said it was a mistake and they apologized) offending him. He would've spoke words of wisdom and chose a more mature way, unlike his followers who acted before they thought. Next time, they need to think before they act, like us Christians, we think: What Would Jesus Do; yall Muslims think this: What Would Muhammad Do?