Reasonable Muslim voices - I: Ziauddin Sardar.

Mr. Ziauddin Sardar makes some questionable assertions about the debt of Western civilization to the Muslim world but the Colonel is not that well versed in that particular area. Suffice it to say that he finds the idea fantastical that there ever was a time when there was anything like free inquiry or scientific exploration in Dar al-Islam.

But, as we said, we don't really know and it's the world's modern experience with the Wahhabi barbarians that undeniably colors our view of what is possible under the green flag.

That said, the views of Mr. Sardar are worth a look:

How do Muslims get out of the "bind" in which they find themselves, partly as a result of their own conduct and partly because of anti-Muslim prejudice?

I think the best way to do that is for Muslim societies to discover a contemporary meaning and significance of Islam. Indeed, in my opinion, serious rethinking within Islam is long overdue. Muslims have been comfortably relying, or rather falling back, on age-old interpretations for much too long. This is why we feel so painful in the contemporary world, so uncomfortable with modernity. Scholars and thinkers have been suggesting for well over a century that we need to make a serious attempt at ijtihad, [a] reasoned struggle and rethinking, to reform Islam. Reform, in my opinion, is long overdue. It is time we made serious attempts to rethink Islam in contemporary terms.

Interview of Ziauddin Sardar, "an internationally renowned Muslim scholar" and the author of Desperately Seeking Paradise: Journeys of a Sceptical Muslim, in "Muslim societies must discover a contemporary meaning of Islam." By Hasan Suroor, The Hindu, 2/13/06.