islam

Sharia law: an eye for an eye

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What exactly is Sharia? Ask a believer and you will be told that it is “God’s” law. Now, what makes this interesting is that if you attempt to drill down into the details, you make the fascinating discovery that there is no actual agreement on it. Modernists, traditionalists and fundamentalists all hold different views, as do adherents to different schools of Islamic thought and scholarship. Even when its the same school, if you look across different countries and cultures you find varying interpretations.

Apparently God can’t quite make up his mind.

A long term goal for many Muslims is to enforce Sharia, but without being able to nail it, you end up with a specific interpretation being the goal for those who pursue this.

Anyway, why am I babbling on about all this? Well, because of the latest news out from Iran. Here are the details …

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Jordan to try Danish artist over Mohammed cartoon

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The news is that a Jordanian court will begin this month the trial of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard over a controversial caricature of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed. The press reports …

Zakarya Sheikh, spokesman for a group of local media outlets that sued Westergaard in 2008 for depicting Mohammed with a bomb in his turban, said on Thursday the artist and others have been summoned by a magistrates’ court in Amman to stand trial on April 25.”

A copy of the subpoena obtained by AFP says Westergaard “is accused of the crime of blasphemy.”

You can read more here .

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Religious Uniforms

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The Burka is quite frankly bizarre, but we all know that. The very concept of wrapping yourself from head to foot in a bag and glancing out at the world through a slit is even at the best of times utterly eccentric, but beyond that it is also very offensive and is more or less declaring that half the human population should be kept hidden because the other half cannot be trusted. The French response to this has been a complete ban, but is this the best response? I’d like to argue that its not.

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Islam The religion of Peace? … No.

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It may sound silly to say it, but the very clear message being delivered is this … Islam is a religion of peace, and if you say that it isn’t, we peaceful Muslims cannot be held responsible for what our less peaceful brothers and sisters do. When they burn your embassies or kidnap and slaughter … Read more

Being Critical Of Islam

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I’ve come across a very well written article about what has been happening in Pakistan, so I thought that I’d share it with you because it has provoked a few thoughts in my own mind, so perhaps you might find the same. The author is Nick Cohen and he writes in the Guardian … The … Read more