Nigerian Riots Caused By More Than Shari'a Debate
Mosque Set Ablaze In Nigeria
Christian Anti-Sharia Campaign In Nigeria Claims Over 200 Lives
3 Muslims Killed By Christians in Nigeria
Egyptian Fatwa Bans Beauty Contests A bit leading and one-sided? Perhaps a bit. And this is the "moderate" voice of Islam.
At least IslamOnline mentions the riots, another site, IslamiCity.com doesn't even feel the murder of at least 50 innocents by rampaging Muslims is newsworthy. Here are their headlines:
- [Archive]
Top Islamists accuse U.S. of leading new crusade
Israeli troops occupy Bethlehem
Nato's doubters prevent solid support for U.S.
Islamists escalate fight in N. Iraq
Is this global war on terror?
U.S. to set up 'Big Brother' citizen database
Oil spreads along Spanish coast
Egyptian Islamist group faces key leadership question
Pakistanis question perks of power
'The threat of the modern Kharijites'
Outrage over MP's call to ban Muslim dress
Militant patriotism and America's jihad
A new Crusade?
Islam is the fastest growing religion in America
Diet during Ramadan
Ramadan Challenges in History
Finally, let us consider the place of tolerance in Islam, as written by Khaled Abou El Fadl, the Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Fellow in Islamic Law at UCLA, writing last December in the Boston Review:
- Any text, including those that are Islamic, provides possibilities for meaning, not inevitabilities. And those possibilities are exploited, developed and ultimately determined by the reader's efforts - good faith efforts, we hope—at making sense of the text's complexities. Consequently, the meaning of the text is often only as moral as its reader. If the reader is intolerant, hateful, or oppressive, so will be the interpretation of the text.
It would be disingenuous to deny that the Qur'an and other Islamic sources offer possibilities of intolerant interpretation. Clearly these possibilities are exploited by the contemporary puritans and supremacists. But the text does not command such intolerant readings. Historically, Islamic civilization has displayed a remarkable ability to recognize possibilities of tolerance, and to act upon these possibilities. Islamic civilization produced a moral and humanistic tradition that preserved Greek philosophy, and generated much science, art, and socially benevolent thought. Unfortunately, however, the modern puritans are dissipating and wasting this inspiring moral tradition. They are increasingly shutting off the possibilities for a tolerant interpretation of the Islamic tradition.
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?