Gene Expression: Reform in Islam

An excellent overview of the possibilities of reform in Islam by Max Rodenbeck, a writer for The Economist is in the current issue of The New York Review of Books. NRB's editor, Robert Silvers, has shown signs of being slow of foot in recent years (decades?) but with this piece it looks like he's found something that is actually relevant the the new age we seem to be living in. Unfortunately, the article is not online yet -- for that you'll have to wait a month.

Especially interesting was what Rodenbeck (who is based is Egypt) had to say about a group of reformers whom he described as belonging to the centrist trend in Egyptian Islamism:

The appropriation of Islamic symbols by the oppositionist movements makes them very difficult for discredited state leaders to challenge. Moreover, the jacket-and-tie-wearing, "capital-friendly" figureheads of this trend have little animus against the West, so long as specific issues are excluded, namely, Palestine and the Bush administration's perceived neo-imperialists intent . . . [L]ong before September 11, Muhammad al Ghazali, a widely revered Egyptian sheikh, was ridiculing extremists as "men in long beards . . .who would drive the country backwards by their preoccupation with issues irrelevant to life on earth." Under the influence of such contempt, a slow tide of radicals has moved toward the Muslim mainstream, including the once-militant Gamas Islamiya group in Egypt (whose members were responsible for a rash of terrorist attacks in the 1980s and 1990s), and, more recently, many Salafist intellectuals in Saudi Arabia.

Unless this is just exaggerated wishful thinking, it sounds like some of the best news I've heard coming out of that part of the world in quite awhile.

« Why intellectual incest is not best \| Gene Expression Front Page \| More than reason alone »
April 11, 2004 Reform in Islam An excellent overview of the possibilities of reform in Islam by Max Rodenbeck, a writer for The Economist is in the current issue of The New York Review of Books. NRB's editor, Robert Silvers, has shown signs of being slow of foot in recent years (decades?) but with this piece it looks like he's found something that is actually relevant the the new age we seem to be living in. Unfortunately, the article is not online yet -- for that you'll have to wait a month. Especially interesting was what Rodenbeck (who is based is Egypt) had to say about a group of reformers whom he described as belonging to the centrist trend in Egyptian Islamism: The appropriation of Islamic symbols by the oppositionist movements makes them very difficult for discredited state leaders to challenge. Moreover, the jacket-and-tie-wearing, "capital-friendly" figureheads of this trend have little animus against the West, so long as specific issues are excluded, namely, Palestine and the Bush administration's perceived neo-imperialists intent . . . [L]ong before September 11, Muhammad al Ghazali, a widely revered Egyptian sheikh, was ridiculing extremists as "men in long beards . . .who would drive the country backwards by their preoccupation with issues irrelevant to life on earth." Under the influence of such contempt, a slow tide of radicals has moved toward the Muslim mainstream, including the once-militant Gamas Islamiya group in Egypt (whose members were responsible for a rash of terrorist attacks in the 1980s and 1990s), and, more recently, many Salafist intellectuals in Saudi Arabia. Unless this is just exaggerated wishful thinking, it sounds like some of the best news I've heard coming out of that part of the world in quite awhile. Posted by lukelea at 01:02 PM	Razib also blogs at..... Recent Entries New URL! What's wrong among the elites? Why Iran Must Not Be Invaded Culture Contact/Conflict Second front: Rise of the GNGO:s New index page.... Blogger/w.bloggar question Interesting choice of words No more posting for a bit.... Killing democracy softly Search this site: Simple reading View all entries Who is linking to us?