Nekyia's Threshold

subject:
Project Ijtihad
post date:
2007-03-07 10:18:59
views: 26 comments: 0 ratings: 0

Ignorance is NOT bliss. Too many people accept religious idealogies based upon rote and not upon reflection. The industrialization of the world and the scientific advances we've made over the last few hundred years has left us starving for soul food. This is resulting in a return to hardcore religious roots. We NEED spiritualism and faith, divinity and hope - but it cannot come at the cost of thought.The following link leads to the beginning of renewal of thought. You don't need to be a muslim to support the resurgance of thinking freely within the parameters of a faith.GO TO:www.myspace.com/projectijtihad(copied from that site)Ijtihad (pronounced “ij-tee-had”) is Islam’s lost tradition of independent thinking. In the early centuries of Islam, thanks to the spirit of ijtihad, 135 schools of thought thrived. Inspired by ijtihad, Muslims gave the world inventions from the astrolabe to the university. So much of we consider "western" pop culture came from Muslims: the guitar, mocha coffee, even the ultra-Spanish expression "Ole!" (which has its root in the Arabic word for God, "Allah"). What happened to ijtihad? Toward the end of the 11th century, the "gates of ijtihad" were closed for entirely political reasons. During this time, the Muslim empire from Iraq in the east to Spain in the west was going through a series of internal upheavals. Dissident denominations were popping up and declaring their own runaway governments, which posed a threat to the main Muslim leader -- the caliph. Based in Baghdad, the caliph cracked down and closed ranks. Remember those 135 schools of thought mentioned above? They were deliberately reduced to four, pretty conservative, schools of thought. This led to a rigid reading of the Koran as well as to a series of legal opinions -- fatwas -- that scholars could no longer overturn or even question, but could now only imitate. To this very day, imitation of medieval norms has trumped innovation in Islam. It’s time to revive ijtihad to update Islam for the 21st century. That’s why I’ve created Project Ijtihad. What's Project Ijtihad? Project Ijtihad is our foundation to spur a reform in Islam — a reform that enables the emerging generation of Muslims, especially young women, to challenge authoritarianism and restore Islam’s tradition of critical thinking. Our mission is to build the world’s first leadership network for reform-minded Muslims. And we will do that by creating a dynamic website on which Project Ijtihad will feature the most taboo-busting debates about – and within –the world of Islam. For example, can Muslims marry non-Muslims? Along with the debate itself, we’ll have the debaters post their sources and recommendations for further reading. That way, those who are serious about reviving Ijtihad in Islam have a place to come and argue, reflect, think, analyze and argue some more. We hope to make the site such an educational goldmine that we’ll be able to partner with various schools, colleges, and universities to offer courses about Islamic reform. Today, everybody teaches Islam. The next step is to teach the reform of Islam. Project Ijtihad will work for that day. Salaam and thank you,Irshad Manji, Chief Catalyst, Project Ijtihad
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