From Egypt's leader, an ambitious call for reform in Islam

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By SARAH EL DEEB and LEE KEATH

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's president opened the new year with a dramatic call for a "revolution" in Islam to reform interpretations of the faith entrenched for hundreds of years, which he said have made the Muslim world a source of "destruction" and pitted it against the rest of the world.

The speech was Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's boldest effort yet to position himself as a modernizer of Islam. His professed goal is to purge the religion of extremist ideas of intolerance and violence that fuel groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State — and that appear to have motivated Wednesday's attack in Paris on a French satirical newspaper that killed 12 people.

But those looking for the "Muslim Martin Luther" bringing a radical Reformation of Islam may be overreaching — and making a false comparison to begin with. El-Sissi is clearly seeking to impose change through the state, using government religious institutions like the 1,000-year-old al-Azhar, one of the most eminent centers of Sunni Muslim thought and teaching.

Al-Azhar's vision for change, however, is piecemeal, and conservative, focusing on messaging and outreach but wary of addressing deeper and more controversial issues.

FULL story at link.



FILE - In this May 16, 2014, file photo, a vehicle of the Egyptian security forces bursts into flames from Molotov cocktails thrown from a student housing area of Al-Azhar University during clashes between security forces and student protesters in Cairo. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi opened 2015 with a dramatic call for a {201c}revolution{201d} in Islam. His professed goal is to purge the religion of extremist ideas of intolerance and violence that fuel groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State. To enact change, he{2019}s relying on state religious institutions, like the 1,000-year-old al-Azhar, one of the most imminent centers of Sunni Muslim thought. Shifting al-Azhar and other calcified institutions to rethink basic tenets and make them more appealing to young people in a modern age is difficult. (AP Photo/Tarek Wajeh, File)


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150108/ml--egypt-reforming_islam-4e16f59fa1.html

[geek tragedy]

1. He's the last person who should be opining on reform nt

[MisterP]

2. a wave of change that leads to persecution of gays and others, purges of anything deemed

"pagan," state control of religion, 99.8% condemnation of roving bands by the clergy, and destruction of all religious images?

because that's what the 16th century meant in Europe