Re: OT: needed: witty facts re: positive aspects of Islamic culture

on 4/9/08 2:15 AM, Lars Finsen at lars.finsen@ORTYGIA.NO wrote:

> [...]
> As far as I can gather, the early centuries represent a liberal phase
> of Islam. There was even figurative art. Later, conservatism took
> over, and advancements ended.
    It is a generalization that can be quite in-line with stereotyping -
i.e. someone outside Christendom could make the same sort of statement and
they would be wrong.

All religions and ideologies with large adherents and long historical impact
will have their share of both conservative and liberal - or institional or
progressive - tendencies, i.e. in Christianity one has ultraconservative
Catholics like Opus Dei and then on the opposing socio-political extreme one
has the Catholic Workers movement.

Likewise Islam and variants of same...

Personal note: I know a lil about this from relatives in Indonesia who are
mainly Sufi Muslims & one has emailed me stuff about the movement within
Indonesian Islam in which militant Muslims who used to advocate and/or
practised terrorism have turned against terrorism - some who have even
devoted their lives to using the Qu'ran's own text to support the
"traditional" definitions of jihad, not the terroristic (per)version.


--
Hanuman Zhang

"I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain."
                    - the Bene Gesserit "Litany Against Fear"
                        from Frank Herbert's novel _Dune_



   "That man is truly good who knows his own dark places." - Beowulf