The claws are unleashed on Newsweek

More dumb stuff about Islam was written recently for Newsweek.

"The New Face of Islam" describes how recently, Muslims world wide have come to denounce radicalism. While the article does a good job of describing bin Laden's diatribes as political and therefore unrelated to Islam and the efforts of scholars to examine the roles of jihad in historical contexts, the idea that this is "new" is naive at best.

Newsweek properly quotes a Turkish scholar on the historical reinterpretations of Islam :

"In its first three centuries "Islam was interacting with Greek, Iranian and Indian cultures and at every encounter [scholars] reinterpreted Islam according to new conditions," says Gormez. "They were not afraid to rethink Islam then."

But then Newsweek acts like such "liberal" reinterpretations were on the periphery, which is wrong. Ibn Khaldun anyone? Rumia, he wasn't just a poet, he was also a jurist. For goodness sake, even the list of different Islamic schools of thoughts and all their offshoots should prove that Islam is constantly being reinterpreted in all kinds of situations.

Violent radicals are always small portions of a population but their ideas may become popular if they offer a quick and easy answer to grievances. If the rise of radical Islam can be said to be spurned on by anything it is that. It has nothing to do with any ideas inherent in Islam or Muslims.

Bin Laden is a political figure, not a religious one, no matter what he claims to be. If more people are turning away from his message, and there were plenty to begin with, it is because their political views have changed.

I try not to get too angry and say insulting things, but this is just the kind of stuff that really encourages the myth of the Westerner as a superior to a non-Westerner. If we continue to think that Muslims are somehow intellectually retarded and the only cure is imitating us, we are making them into something less than human. Something that is okay to cheat, steal from, exploit, oppress, kill, and even ignore in times of crisis. I hates that. So Newsweek, you's a bitch.