Originally posted by Spirit of Spartacus+December 04, 2007 02:34 am--> (Spirit of Spartacus @ December 04, 2007 02:34 am)
[email protected] 04, 2007 01:42 am
Not that it relates to leftism that much, but what are your opinions on Manji's critiques on the Muslim church today?
Firstly, there is no such thing as a "Muslim church". Muslims do not follow the authority of any one central leader (unlike, for instance, the Catholics).
As for Irshad Manji herself, I agree that her ideas are quite interesting, if we're talking about reform within the Islamic faith, so as to bring it up to date for the needs of the 21st century.
I know its not music to the ears of many comrades on rev-left, but the way to achieve progress in the Muslim world is not to clash head-on with the Islamic faith, but to find ways of achieving social progress, even revolutions, while cautiously avoiding conflict with religious and spiritual sentiments.
Irshad Manji provides some interesting ways of solving the problem which we communists face when it comes to Islam.
How can we fight Islam's backwardness while avoiding direct attacks on the religion itself?
Irshad Manji's calls for secularism and rational re-interpretation of Islamic texts offers a solution which we should acquaint ourselves with.
HAVING SAID ALL OF THAT, I must also point out that she is a dangerous sympathizer of First World imperialism, and her denunciations of "Islamic fundamentalism" often amount to a condemnation of Muslim efforts at resisting capitalist-imperialist aggression.
We need to take Irshad Manji with a grain of salt. Her ties to the imperialist bloc must be exposed, and her efforts at demonizing the anti-imperialist resistance in Muslim countries must be resisted by the revolutionary Left. [/b]
I suppose have worded myself better, I meant the muslim faith by church, sorry for that. As for everything else, I'd have to agree, though in the larger perspective, should this slow progression be taken with islam alone or must we use this tactic with all religious faiths?