Subject: Re: Geisler-Saleeb Anti-Muslim Book Part 2 (2/2)

In article <51rr0f$59h@usenet.srv.cis.pitt.edu>, 
alimhaq@city-net.com (Jeremiah McAuliffe) writes:

| Muslim intellectual work and theology has been asleep for 400 years
| as symbolized by the phrase "closing the doors to ijtihad". I assume
| you are familiar with that phrase. You have based your understanding
| of Islam on what you hear from contemporary Muslims and a few
| selective readings and interpretations...

| Though, I
| will grant you, Muslims such as myself seem to be in a minority....
| and, to be fair to you, some local Muslims think I work for the
| FBI-CIA. I think they have unresolved psycho-social problems that are
| being expressed by means of religion....
| 
| I did find your statement of your experience at Al-Azhar really
| interesting. The top "Muslim" university is still stuck in Medieval
| styles of thinking--- precisely my complaint as readers of sri know.

...

| You did not address my concerns, nor did you refute them, nor did you
| defend your book as an argument against Islam per se.

Jeremiah, what is "Islam per se" ?

After attacking Geisler's and Saleeb's book "Answering Islam" you seem 
in your last message nearly to team up with him and say yes, it is a 
(valid) critique of huge parts of Islam. Even of much what could be 
termed "traditional Islam."

But for some reason I cannot fully comprehend you seem not to think that
that is "Islam (per se)". You are then definitely a very unconventional 
Muslim. For nearly all Muslims Islam is frozen in its most parts. The 
TRADITION is the standard and if you change and reinterpret then you are
an INNOVATOR [which is a bad word in Islam]. 

If YOUR Islam is not traditional Islam, what is it and how do you know 
that it is Islam at all? Maybe you have made yourself a religion 
according to your own taste? 

As Abdul said in his response you seem to live on borrowed capital and 
seem to "Christianize" your personal view of Islam. But if you are 
building your own Islam, why is their critique of Islam not valid if 
it is not aimed at your Islam but at the Islam of the other some one 
billion Muslims?

The title of the book is "Answering Islam" not "Answering Jeremiah". 
And therefore your complaint that Abdul "did not address my concerns" 
might even be right. But he addressed what he knows is mainstream Islam 
and the problems inherent in it. If you want "your" concerns or your 
religion to be addressed you might first want to define for him/us/all 
the readers here what exactly that is.

Best regards,

Jochen Katz  

Overview on the debate between Jeremiah and Abdul
Answering Islam Home Page