Tuesday, April 05, 2005
On Sharia
Wow.
I have a huge - huge - list of links to post here. All sorts of fascinating things, in all sorts of areas. Honestly it's into the point where the sheer size of the fascinating stuff is itself slowing down my attempts to post it here... but for now I choose to be stubborn about trying to actually get the whole shebang up as a kind of smorgasbord of brain food.
However, today I found something so clearly, intelligently, and beautifully written that I'm choosing to post it by itself, immediately. The title of the piece is For a Moratorium on the Application of Sharia in the Muslim World, by Tariq Ramadan.
It's a very complex question, one which becomes moreso even as our neighbours to the south slide it toward oversimplification. It's a question of significant interest in Canada as well, as we experiment with the idea of consensual legal subsystems - an experiment which IMO has ramifications which run far, far beyond its applications to one or two religious groups. And it's one which might open the doors to the enlightened, reinterpreted Islam near the end of The Years of Rice and Salt... which could be a powerful force for world harmony, in a world where we badly need one.
I wholly support Tariq's proposal. Ignore all questions of application, for now. I, at least, do not actually know where the common people of the affected countries would truly stand if given the choice - especially if they could do so in a way which was still seen as consistent with practising their faith. Focus only on the promise, the intelligent optimism, the potential for beauty which is itself beautiful. It's got me smiling still.
I have a huge - huge - list of links to post here. All sorts of fascinating things, in all sorts of areas. Honestly it's into the point where the sheer size of the fascinating stuff is itself slowing down my attempts to post it here... but for now I choose to be stubborn about trying to actually get the whole shebang up as a kind of smorgasbord of brain food.
However, today I found something so clearly, intelligently, and beautifully written that I'm choosing to post it by itself, immediately. The title of the piece is For a Moratorium on the Application of Sharia in the Muslim World, by Tariq Ramadan.
It's a very complex question, one which becomes moreso even as our neighbours to the south slide it toward oversimplification. It's a question of significant interest in Canada as well, as we experiment with the idea of consensual legal subsystems - an experiment which IMO has ramifications which run far, far beyond its applications to one or two religious groups. And it's one which might open the doors to the enlightened, reinterpreted Islam near the end of The Years of Rice and Salt... which could be a powerful force for world harmony, in a world where we badly need one.
I wholly support Tariq's proposal. Ignore all questions of application, for now. I, at least, do not actually know where the common people of the affected countries would truly stand if given the choice - especially if they could do so in a way which was still seen as consistent with practising their faith. Focus only on the promise, the intelligent optimism, the potential for beauty which is itself beautiful. It's got me smiling still.
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