Some weeks back, one of my favorite bloggers, the Anchoress, ran a post in which she talked up Ali Eteraz, and gave him space to opine on the "turn the other cheek" tradition in Islam.
I thought Eteraz' whole line of argument was extremely weak at the time, and I tried to comment, but for whatever reason, my comments were blocked out.
This caused me quite a bit of frustration, and, as I was on the road at the time, and already frustrated enough, I never did anything more about the situation, even though, I must say, I was extremely disappointed in the Anchoress' apparent lack of knowledge of Islam, and her apparent lack of intellectual resolve when faced with bovine excrement.
As everyone knows, I like Eteraz, but that doesn't mean I am not aware that he is an apologist for his religion. A reformer must be a lover of his religion, but he must also be intellectually rigorous, willing to be critical when the situation calls for it.
In this case, Eteraz was talking more of the way he would like things to be, than of how things really are in Islam.
Anyway, today, I found out that Robert Spencer weighed in on the debate. I'm sure many of you will be interested in checking this out. Here it is.
5 comments:
Spencer smacks down Eteraz better, and more eloquently than I ever could. He has his usual carefully researched facts on Islam that overwhelmingly support the anti-jihad case and devastate his opponent's. Eteraz's writing is equal parts obsfucation, wishful thinking, delusion, and selective reasoning.
Anti-Jihadist,
For once, you and I agree on Eteraz. I can not argue that his reasoning on the Anchoress post was "equal parts obsfucation, wishful thinking, delusion, and selective reasoning."
But, that is a different thing entirely from accusing him of Taqiyyah as so many have done here.
Anyway, it's cool. The thing about it is I know I could be wrong. Therefore, I can tolerate the opinions of those who disagree with me on this issue.
That is a very interesting thread over there.
However, I have so far ignored Et's use of the Quran as a tool to demonstrate a 'moderate' reinterpretion. I also ignore Bible quotes.
Here's why ..
What are the believers doing? Saying? Promulgating? Supporting?
That's what the religion is. REAL LIFE. Not a book.
If Et is going to have a moderate islam, it won't be recognizable to TOO MANY.
As for the Taqiyya theory ..it's useless with us anyway. Everyone around here has forehead pain from raised eyebrows.
Yeah, I don't have a whole lot of wrinkles yet, but my forehead sure does have more than its share.
Eteraz's writing is equal parts obsfucation, wishful thinking, delusion, and selective reasoning.
Secular practice in a religion - a private matter that denies some parts and takes others. It is the ideal that can most easily be used to reform Islam. Judaism, Catholicism, Hinduism have all been made secular - why should we attempting to move further against Islam? Secularism is achieved by promoting universal virtues - virtues such as Eteraz has exposed himself to - that can be used in our daily lives.
Robert Spencer asks for a schism in the Islamic faith - a wish, how could this possibly be done?
Post a Comment