The Fight for the Soul of Islam

Part 1 The War from the East Session 1.1 Is This War? Session 1.2 Islam – One of the Great Monotheistic Religions Session 1.3 The Fight for the Soul of Islam Session 1.4 Dar al-Islam – The House of War Session 1.5 The Global Caliphate Session 1.6 Islam – Religion of Peace? Session 1.7 The History of the Conflict Session 1.8 Poverty in Islamic Nations

Outline Introduction Five Conflicting “Schools” Before and After Medina Tensions within the Quran Islam’s Golden Age The Battle for Islam

Introduction

“Titles” Moderates –Secularists –Reformers Faith & Reason Enter the future Reconstructionists Enlightened Extremists –Jihadists –“Islamists” Faith w/out reason Return to the past Restorationists Strident

A Set of Truisms Most Muslims are not fundamentalists. Most fundamentalist Muslims are not terrorists. Today, most terrorists are Muslims.

Five Conflicting “Schools”

The Five Elements The Pragmatists The Reformers The Secularists The Fundamentalists The Jihadists

The Pragmatists Revelation (without reason?) The ‘silent’ majority Just want to live their lives and raise their families “Go along to get along!” Faith is for the private life, not the public arena They have a vague understanding that Islam and Modernity are not in conflict Like many Evangelical Gnostic Christians

The Reformers Revelation and Reason See Islam as a progressive, rational and reforming faith Islam needs to be related to the real world (not necessarily accommodating Modernism) Followers of Mohammed in Mecca Perhaps a small minority of Muslims Natural allies of other reasoning monotheists – Jews and Christians

The Reformer Prof. Akbar Ahmed Pakistani high commissioner to Britain Prof: Harvard, Princeton, Cambridge Chair of Islamic Studies at American University

The Secularists Reason without Revelation Operating consciously or unconsciously from an atheistic set of assumptions Muslims by birth, name and historic background only Reject Islam as a religion Function from secular materialistic value system Corresponding to liberal Christians

The Secularist Ayaan Hirsi Ali Member of Dutch Parliament Author: The Infidel Intellectual Refugee Fellow American Enterprise Institute

The Fundamentalists Revelation (without reason?) Thoughtfully faithful Muslims Consider that the problems of Muslims stem from too much modernization Restorationists – return Islam and the world to the glorious past Most are not violent Corresponding to fundamentalist Christians

The Jihadists Revelation without Reason Restorationists – return Islam and the world to the glorious past A minority of fundamentalists Followers of Mohammed in Medina Faith is to relate to every area of life including social, economic and political institutions

The Jihadist Founder Al-Qaeda Declared war on the USA Planned 9/11 Committed to the restoration of a global Muslim Empire

Before and After Medina

Mecca to Medina

Tensions within the Quran Reflect Mecca and Medina

Tensions in the Quran Mecca Christians and Jews are “people of the book” Convert through persuasion Enlightened Roots of the Reformers Pluralism in society Freedom Medina Christians and Jews are “infidels” Conquer or kill them Strident Roots of the Jihadists Uniformity in society Tyranny

Ijtihad – Concept of Reasoning Fundamentalist Muslims: “a narrow, legalistic notion of it as a process of juristic reasoning….” –Reflects Medina –Legal Ijtihad Reformist Muslims: “freedom of thought, rational thinking and the quest for truth through an epistemology covering science, rationalism, human experience, critical thinking …” –Reflects Mecca –“independent thinking” –Led to the Golden Age of Islam

Reason and Revelation REASON NON-REASON REVELATION NO REVELATION −Jews −Christians −(moderate) Muslims -IJTIHAD −Atheism −Pagan humanism −Muslims (Jihadists)- narrow view ijtihad −Some Christians −Some traditional religions −Pagan Animism −New Age

Islam’s Golden Age

Ijtihad

IJTIHAD: For Freedom of thought and independent thinking among Muslims everywhere Dr. Muqtedar Khan Associate Professor Political Science and International Relations University of Delaware

Caliphate of Cordoba Andalusia

Impact on Christianity Ijtihad – “independent thinking” in Andalusia brought Jewish and Christian scholars to “think together” with Muslims. Much of the dialog dealt with the relationship between faith (being people of the Book) and reason (the contribution of the Greek scholars). The work done by Arab scholars was translated into Hebrew and Latin to impact Judaism and Christianity.

Achievements of the Golden Age Architecture The Arts Literature Medicine Philosophy Mathematics Science and technology

Architecture Moorish architecture in Spain The Taj Mahal in India

The Arts

Literature

Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine

Mathematics Arabic numerals Concept of “zero” Algebra Algorithms

Science Contributed to: –Experimental Physics –Optics –Experimental psychology –Astronomy –Chemistry (Jabir ibn Hayyan- “father of chemistry”)

Death of the Golden Age Ibn Taymiya from Syria AD Sunni Islamic scholar Led movement to return to the fundamentalist understanding Ended the Golden Age The father of Islamic Fascism

Moderates vs. Jihadists Mecca Christians and Jews are “people of the book” Ijtihad – Freedom of thought Persuade Enlightened Reformers Pluralism in society Freedom Medina Christians and Jews are “infidels” “Ijtihad law” Conquer Strident Jihadists Uniformity in society Tyranny

The Battle for Islam