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Reform-minded Turkish scholars prepare to reinterpret Islam
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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem Apr 25, 2008 09:40am |
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| Category | News |
| News Date | Thursday, April 24, 2008 03:40:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | By Dion Nissenbaum | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Thursday, April 24, 2008
ANKARA, Turkey — In a sterile, boxy stone building in the shadow of Ankara's central mosque, a group of Turkish scholars is spearheading a reinterpretation of the literary foundations of Islam that some have compared to Christianity's Protestant Reformation.
With the backing of Turkey's reform-minded government, the team of 80 Islamic academicians from around the world is preparing to release a revised collection of the Prophet Muhammad's words and deeds, which guide Muslims on everything from brushing their teeth to reaching heaven.
As with most religions, the accuracy of the words that have been handed down through centuries has long been in dispute.
Did Muhammad really say that women are bad luck? Did the prophet tell his followers that the word of a woman is worth half that of a man? Did he call for adulterers to be stoned to death?
By year's end, the academics hope to answer those questions by preparing a new intellectual road map for Islam.
"It's a state-sponsored project that is bringing together a large number of scholars to undertake quite an extensive reinterpretation of the sources in a systematic way that has not been achieved before in modern times," said Fadi Hakura, an associate fellow in the European Program at Chatham House, an independent London-based policy institute. He calls the project "somewhat akin to the Christian Reformation." |
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