Sunday, August 07, 2005
Religion needs an enema (2)
Salman Rushdie makes the case for Islamic reformation in the Washington Post:
Muhammad ... was ... a successful merchant and heard, on his travels, the Nestorian Christians' desert versions of Bible stories that the Koran mirrors closely ... It ought to be fascinating to Muslims everywhere to see how deeply their beloved book is a product of its place and time, and in how many ways it reflects the Prophet's own experiences.
However, ... (t)he insistence that the Koranic text is the infallible, uncreated word of God renders analytical, scholarly discourse all but impossible ...
If, however, the Koran were seen as a historical document, then it would be legitimate to reinterpret it to suit the new conditions of successive new ages. Laws made in the seventh century could finally give way to the needs of the 21st. ... all ideas, even sacred ones, must adapt to altered realities.
