
Khatami: Islamic World Ready for Change
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia Feb 10, 2006 (AP)— The Islamic world is fed up with violence and extremism in the name of religion and is ready for an era of progressive, democratic Muslim governments, former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said Friday.
Khatami said current conflicts between the West and Islam have created a situation that “can only see ever-escalating violence, whether in the form of war and occupation and repression, or in the form of terror and destruction.”
“After about two centuries of dispute between tradition and modernity in the world of Islam (there is) a high level of mental preparation for the acceptance of a major transformation in the mind and lives of Muslims,” Khatami said in a speech at an international conference on Islam and the West.
Right. I’m sure we’ll see the ‘acceptance of a major transformation’ just as soon as the “cartoon row” abates.
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“democratic Muslim governments”
Isn’t that an oximoron?
“Muslim governments” is the shortened oxymoron version
“modernity in the world of Islam”
… Double stone anchors for your camel…
- Bang
“high level of mental preparation”
- Sucking on a Hukah for 32 hours…..
- Bang
Oh, I dunno…all it takes is a highly visible minority to give a group, any group, a negative image.
On the other hand, all it takes for evil to prevail is for good folks to do nothing…
Sounds like some of the commentators just before the Reformation took place in Whittenburg, in 1517 doesn’t it? Instead of being the naysayers everyone expects, maybe the Right could get behind a Peaceful transition and support the Peacemakers. Peace
My feeling is that the Islamic world isn’t capable of grasping the subtleties involved in tolerating one’s neighbors.
I recently read Bernard Lewis’s “What Went Wrong: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response”. He presents the thesis that the Middle East slipped behind the West in terms of technological, political, and cultural development, largely because they felt we had nothing to offer. There were elements in Islamic culture that fostered cultural disdain for anything outside of the Middle East and Islam.
In order for the Middle East to change, Islam itself is going to have to change. It has become an iron ball and chain on the entire region, preventing them from moving into the 21st century. Somehow the true moderates are going to have to gain the ascendancy there. Unfortunately, I don’t see many positive signs right now.
When I see an Islamic peacemaker who does not qualify her “desire for peace” with a proviso requiring sharia law, I’ll support him. To date, no such person has arisen. A few have made overtures, but disqualify themselves as they can’t seem to stop showing support for genocide bombers.