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September 14, 2006
Pope Slams Violence In Islam - Invites Dialogue: A Call For Reform Of Islam From Within?
"Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul". (Pope Benedict)
On Tuesday, in what Time.com describes as "a riveting and provocative university lecture," the Pope explored the philosophical and historical differences between Islam and Christianity by citing the concept of jihad and referencing Muhammad by name, while sending "the world a signal that it's time for hard questions - not hugs and handshakes."
However, what I hear Pope Benedict really saying is that Islam is in dire need of reform, and that the future peace of the world depends on the insertion of reason and sanity into the dialogue among cultures, and particularly, the insertion of reason and moderninity into the Islamic side of the equation, something that many Muslims themselves are suggesting:
... (he delivered) a lecture that explored how Christians and Muslims may have historically viewed the relationship between violence and faith, based on the two religions' conceptions of the divinity.And the Pope's message, call it a warning for the world, for the need of reform in Islam - is not recognized by him alone, but also by Muslims themselves. Maruf Khwaja, in his article, "Terrorism, Islam, reform: thinking the unthinkable," written soon after the 7/7 London bombing, says:... His discourse Tuesday sought to delineate what he sees as a fundamental difference between Christianity's view that God is intrinsically linked to reason (the Greek concept of logos) and Islam´s view that "God is absolutely transcendent." Benedict said that Islam teaches that God's "will is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality." The risk he sees implicit in this concept of the divine is that the irrationality of violence can potentially be justified if someone believes it is God's will. "As far as understanding of God and thus the concrete practice of religion is concerned, we find ourselves faced with a dilemma which nowadays challenges us directly. Is the conviction that acting unreasonably contradicts God's nature merely a Greek idea, or is it always and intrinsically true?"
... Rather than tackling the challenge of fundamentalist terrorism with a pithy remark packaged for the 9/11 anniversary or reaching for a John Paul-inspired sweeping gesture, the professor Pope went digging into his books. He went so far as to quote a 14th century Byzantine emperor´s hostile view of Islam's founder. "The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war," the Pope said. "He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.'" Benedict added "I quote" twice to make it clear these were someone else's words. Nevertheless this reference was undoubtedly the most provocative moment of a provocative lecture. In a sense, explicitly including the Muslim prophet by name, and citing the concept of jihad, was a flashing neon signal to the world that the soft-spoken Pope intends to make himself heard clearly on this defining tension of our times.
... After laying out the historical contrasts with Islam, the Pope used much of the discourse to call on the West, and Europe in particular, to clearly affirm the value of a faith in God --and a God built on reason. "While we rejoice in the new possibilities open to humanity, we also see the dangers arising from these possibilities and we must ask ourselves how we can overcome them," he said. "We will succeed in doing so only if reason and faith come together in a new way, if we overcome the self-imposed limitation of reason to the empirically verifiable, and if we once more disclose its vast horizons."
... In the penultimate phrase of his lecture, Benedict said: "It is to this great logos, to this breadth of reason, that we invite our partners in the dialogue of cultures."
... British Muslims and non-Muslims alike agonize over the question raised by the "homegrown" attackers of 7 July in particular: why did a group of apparently normal, well-adjusted young men, born and brought up in Britain, products of an education that imparts (if nothing else) liberal values, commit such a horrendous crime?... One answer is that the liberal values were cancelled by the illiberal, indeed fanatical values the bombers acquired elsewhere. But was there nothing in the "Britishness" of their lives that they felt worth preserving? British Muslims, nourished by the salt of this land, must ask themselves these questions. Islam places a man's duty to his loved ones on the same plane as his duty to Allah. Why was that Islamic duty so easily erased for these fanatics?
... Mass murder in one blow is a modern phenomenon.
... This is the problem. Contemporary Islam has produced more suicidal extremists than all other creeds, modern or ancient. In addition to real or imagined grievances, there are growth factors peculiar to Islam. An unshakeable belief that "life after life" is preferable to the earthly one; the mental discipline inculcated by rigid prayer rituals and the suppression of earthly desire through fasting and privation make vulnerable young minds especially receptive to brainwashing.
... The ideal breeding-ground for uncompromising fanaticism is unquestioning belief in the "holy" writ and the resistance to rational thought that it provides.
... It is clear that the London bombers - hypnotised, brainwashed or just demented - had no sanction from Islamic scripture and may now be sitting in hell, rather than enjoying the fabled 72 virgins in paradise. What is of greater interest to the rest of us, their would-be victims, is to seal off the British end of the terrorist supply-line. This has several tentacles, of which the most obvious is the network of mosques and Islamic guidance centres operated by the ultra-radical Wahhabi sect, to which the Taliban and Osama bin Laden belong. This sect, referred to in south Asia as Deobandi, runs most of Pakistan's 10,000 religious schools (madrasas). The Pakistani regime of Pervez Musharraf has long promised to curtail those cultivating young jihadis - and the flow between them and radical mosques and madrasas in Britain needs urgent monitoring.
Unreformed Islam's relationship to the Muslim world is equivalent to pre-Reformation Christianity in Europe. The Reformation allowed the west to liberate itself from religious thinking and set free forces of progress; meanwhile, Islamic empires shrank into their shell, refusing reality, rejecting change and resisting "infidel" knowledge. Stupefied by ignorance, they submitted to western conquerors with scarcely a whimper. If today's Muslim bomb-throwers want someone to blame for their mindless rage, they should look at their own ancestors.
The long-term answer to terrorism in its Islamic guise can only lie in reform. Islamic reformers must re-examine pre-modern practices and concepts (such as the hudood laws that allow men "non-reciprocal" rights over women); repudiate Islamic radicals who wish (as in Canada) to apply sharia laws to Muslims in the democratic west; shed sectarian dogmas that perpetuate intra-communal conflict; consign the theological disputes of early Islam to the past; and update or discard rigid rules (often deriving from pre-Islamic rituals) that have no relevance today.Fr Samir Khalil Samir, a Jesuit and Islam scholar who teaches in Beirut, puts it another way but says much of the same thing: "In fact, Islam is going through a very profound crisis. It is a fact which is not only evident to outside observers. There is by now no Muslim, thinker, Arab or Islamic newspaper that is not discussing this fact: Islam is facing a crisis."
In his Asianews.it piece titled, "Islam walking a tightrope between violence and reform," Fr Samir continues by saying:
There is a distinction to be made. For radical Islamists - who are pursuing the project for a political Islam - the "blame" for the crisis falls on the West and its aggressiveness. For some, this crisis dates back to the Crusades; for others, to recent colonization; for others, to the creation of the State of Israel; for others still, it goes only as far back as American aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq. In all cases, what is ailing Islam comes from outside itself, from the "Other."Reforming Islam can only be undertaken by Muslims themselves, only they can undertake such a project. Reasonable people can only wonder just when and if that will occur. As Maruf Khwajo put it in his above referenced piece, "The outlook for reform in the Muslim heartlands is bleak."There is however another group, ever more numerous, which affirms that Islam's ailment is within itself. This position is usually found among liberal personalities, intellectuals. They too stop short of saying that the problem is right in the Koran: for them, the problem is in the interpretation made of the Koran, of Islam as a religious, political, social and cultural system. Judging by comments that appear in the press in Islamic countries, we can say that positions of radical Islamism amount to a good 20%; liberal tendencies account for some 10 to 20%.
All agree however that the time has come for reform in Islam.
And that's not very promising for the future of peace in the world - ever.
Post Scrip: The Anchoress isn't pleased with of the story on Pope Benedict's lecture.
Other coverage: Hot Air, Freedom's Zone, Right Truth
Related suggested reading, an excellent piece referred to above: Islam walking a tightrope between violence and reform
Also, Stefan at Politically Incorrect has extensive coverage in German - Papst Benedikt XVI. erteilt "Heiligem Krieg" Absage.
Cross posted from Hyscience
Posted by Richard at September 14, 2006 9:25 AM
