[antimedia] antimedia: Oh my! This is....

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Posted by antimedia:
Oh my!  This is....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1204169403.shtml


   ....[1]major news.

     Turkey is preparing to publish a document that represents a
     revolutionary reinterpretation of Islam - and a controversial and
     radical modernisation of the religion.
     The country's powerful Department of Religious Affairs has
     commissioned a team of theologians at Ankara University to carry
     out a fundamental revision of the Hadith, the second most sacred
     text in Islam after the Koran.
     The Hadith is a collection of thousands of sayings reputed to come
     from the Prophet Muhammad.
     As such, it is the principal guide for Muslims in interpreting the
     Koran and the source of the vast majority of Islamic law, or
     Sharia.
     This is kind of akin to the Christian Reformation. Not exactly the
     same, but... it's changing the theological foundations of [the]
     religion
     But the Turkish state has come to see the Hadith as having an often
     negative influence on a society it is in a hurry to modernise, and
     believes it responsible for obscuring the original values of Islam.
     It says that a significant number of the sayings were never uttered
     by Muhammad, and even some that were need now to be reinterpreted.

   There will be fatwas.
   Textual criticism of the Christian texts has been around for centuries
   and is quite well developed. Yet, even today, the field is very
   controversial. It is subject to the interpretation of scholars as well
   as the influence of religious strains that seek to retain a certain
   belief about what the texts say, pitting the Alexandrian against the
   Byzantine schools of thought. (I could go on at length. This is a
   particular field of interest for me.)
   To Islam, this is not just groundbreaking. It's earth shattering. The
   backlash will be immediate and violent. The protests against cartoons
   will pale in comparison. Let's hope that the Turks can continue this
   work, for it will revolutionize Islam and change the world, if it
   succeeds. (Hat tip to [2]Chapomatic.)
   Tags: [3]Islam [4]Hadith [5]textual criticism [6]Turkey

References

   1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7264903.stm
   2. http://gmapalumni.org/chapomatic/?p=2922
   3. http://technorati.com/tag/Islam
   4. http://technorati.com/tag/Hadith
   5. http://technorati.com/tag/textual%20criticism
   6. http://technorati.com/tag/Turkey