A Few Small Voices For Islamic Reform.

Note: This post is a little bit of good news. It is good to read of these developments. You will note that this conference took place in Christian europe where police exist to protect the participants from being murdered by adherents of mainstream Islam.

I wonder if the next such conference will take place in Mecca, broadcast from beginning to end by al Jazeera? Let us hope so.

Read and be (slightly) encouraged...





Now for some good news about Islam

By Irshad Manji

It is easy to believe that the Muslim world has only bad news to offer. But easy does not mean accurate. In fact, there is much good news to report.

Before all else, allow me to confess the obvious: We Muslims play the villain role quite well, thank you. Last month, a group of terrorists - evidently Islamist militants - blew commuter trains to shreds in India. The next day, Hezbollah crossed a UN-delineated boundary to kidnap and kill Israeli soldiers, touching off the latest litany of bombs and bullets to rock the Middle East.

Then again, I expect the worst from religious extremists. Moderate Muslims tend to disappoint me more. We call for a "proportionate response" from Israel. Yet we engage in a disproportionate response of our own when we diminish or outright ignore Hezbollah's crimes, too. They attacked Israel from southern Lebanon and Gaza, the very areas the Jewish state had unilaterally evacuated. If Islam is another word for peace, what is un-Islamic about opposing such bald aggression?

Moreover, Hezbollah deliberately throws Muslim and Christian civilians at death's door. Its fighters set up shop in the middle of busy residential districts, so that going after them must involve hitting innocents. What makes Muslims moderate when we wink at this cruel calculus?

Above all, given our hostility-turned-hypocrisy, what could I possibly be talking about when I say there is good news to share?

Brace yourselves: During the same week that India and Israel were reminded of Islamist brutality, liberal Muslims made progress in reclaiming our faith, both in the East and in the West.

Let us start in the East. For almost three decades, Pakistan has followed a controversial set of laws called "Hudood." Named for "hudd," or penalties prescribed by God, these laws determine punishment in cases of rape and adultery. Finally, the Hudood ordinances are being seriously challenged. And not a moment too soon: Under them, more than 4,600 Pakistani women have been thrown in prison for charges that include adultery. By contrast, virtually all men accused of rape have gotten off. Thanks to a vocal but religiously respectful campaign by civil society groups, Pakistan's Council for Islamic Ideology - an influential body - recently recommended changing the Hudood laws. That move laid the foundation for President Pervez Musharraf to begin releasing 1,300 jailed women who were awaiting trial. Even Muslim clerics in Pakistan now hint that the Hudood laws are not divinely created. The politics behind them tell us so.

In 1977, a U.S.-backed coup installed General Zia ul-Haq as Pakistan's president. To cement his tenuous grip, the strongman surrounded himself with sycophantic mullahs who referred to him as "Commander of the Faithful," a term reserved for the Prophet Muhammad's successors.

To curry favor among village leaders, Zia mixed a selective reading of the Koran with tribal customs. In this way, stoning arose as a legal punishment for adultery and it was required that a rape be witnessed by four men before any offender could be charged. But suppose a rape does not have the benefit of so many male eyes - and male voices willing to testify? Then it would be a case of adultery committed by the woman, who in turn could be condemned to jail, lashing, or stoning.

The injustices that followed have slandered not only women, but Islam itself. As more and more of Pakistan's Muslims recognize that these laws emanate from humans, they acknowledge that the duty to re-think them rests in their hands, not God's. Muslims believe that Allah is perfect. We are learning to appreciate that Allah's interpreters are not.

At the same time, the liberal reformation of Islam picked up speed - in Copenhagen, the city that served as Ground Zero for worldwide riots over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. A Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, first published the caricatures. I joined 99 other "Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow" in Copenhagen to debate how Islam and the West can enrich each other. We came from the United States, Canada, Australia and across Europe. Permit me to divulge among the more shocking statements:

Man from the Netherlands: "We, as Muslims, need to look in the mirror instead of blaming everybody else!"

Woman from Germany: "I don't have an identity crisis. I'm Western and Muslim and grateful to be both."

Imam from Britain: "The minute a woman becomes a mufti [Islamic judge], I will be the first to study at her feet."

One delegate tested the young clerics: "Is Islam the only way to salvation?" A Danish imam gripped the microphone. "The short answer," he said, "is no." A British imam disputed that response and an Italian took the middle road. Remarkably, they never accused each other of being evil or insincere. For the first time in my life, I heard the message that in Islam, unity is not uniformity.

Maybe the most compelling insight came from a surprise guest: Flemming Rose, publisher of the reviled Prophet Muhammad cartoons. After addressing us and answering our challenges, Rose confided that the reception we gave him was more civil than anything he has experienced at the hands of humanist groups.

A liberal reformation of Islam will be marked by at least two features: the empowerment of women in the Muslim world and the willingness of Muslims in the West to exercise our freedom of conscience.

In one week, both got a promising boost. We will need to remember that as God's soldiers continue grabbing the spotlight.

Irshad Manji, a Fellow at Yale University, is author of "The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith" (published in Israel by Kinneret-Zmora).



Comment: Australian authorities can do much to promote this liberalisation of Islam in Australia by adopting the Three Point Plan:

Communities...all muslim groups and institutions in Asutralia be legally required to only elect Executive members who were born and raised in Australia.

Imams...send away from Australia all the imams, without exception,and do not allow any replacements. The local mosques can make their own arrangements using the resources available in Australia. The imams are the source of the poison which is inevitably leading to an 'Event' in Australia.

Money...ban as a felony all money from outside Australia that is intended for any muslim group, charity, school(all of which must be absorbed into the state education system)or mosque. Make it a felony to receive such funds. This prevents the subornation of local muslims to foreign Wahhabi fascist muslims who are enemies of Australia's welfare and peace.

This policy will safeguard Australia from the growing Islamist menace from abroad.

Is anyone awake in Canberra?