Does a Lack of Islamic Literacy Fuel Extremism? - Ebrahim Moosa

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/04/20/The_Rise_of_Intellectual_Reform_in_Islam

Ebrahim Moosa, professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University, attributes the fundamentalism of extreme Islamists to a lack of literacy about Islamic law and tradition. He says very few resources are put into studying and understanding the historical context of Sharia, giving way to "demagoguery and rhetoric."

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In a world increasingly governed by ideals of democracy and pluralism, this program explores both the evolution of religion and freedom in Islam -- focusing on the recent rise of intellectual reform and the role of the religious intellectual -- as well the debate surrounding these changes.

Featuring Baber Johansen, Professor of Islamic Religious Studies at Harvard Divinity School; Ebrahim Moosa, Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University; and Abdulkarim Soroush, philosopher, reformer, Rumi scholar, and former professor at the University of Tehran. Talal Asad, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the Graduate Center, moderates the discussion. - CUNY

Ebrahim E.I. Moosa is Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University. His interests span both classical and modern Islamic thought with a special focus on Islamic law, history, ethics, and theology. Moosa is the author of Ghazali and the Poetics of Imagination, winner of the American Academy of Religion's Best First Book in the History of Religions (2006) and editor of the last manuscript of the late Professor Fazlur Rahman, Revival and Reform in Islam: A Study of Islamic Fundamentalism. He was named Carnegie Scholar in 2005 to pursue research on the madrasas, Islamic seminaries of South Asia.

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[EntinludeX]

What? Mytholgoical supernaturalism survies because of illiteracy? SHOCKER.

[ndyt]

Knowledge kills religion, ignorance fertilizes religion. All you need to know on this subject. This why christians home school.

[scientist071]

@Wrath0fKhan

On your video: "We can never be friend with unbelievers" ,you asked me that "do i remember khidar's story" but it seems that you didn't had any guts to withstand the reply which was obviously coming.I can see that,besides bocking me,you also discarded the comment,in response to your rubbish,made by another person present there.

I am almost sure that you have blocked him,too,since you can only respond with crap but become dumb whenever you encounter a rational argument.

[oudmontage]

Blah blah blah... what is so ethical about "beat your wife?"

[SomethingSea1]

@ndyt Homeschool Vs School? Might as well say Dem Vs Rep.

[Experiment47]

Education: Curing religion since the 1600s'.

[yeshuahfullofit]

Religion is dying. Every time you get a chance, kick a little dirt into it's grave. Thanks!

[Tait011]

@ndyt

What a fine statement, another example to back up your statement is to look at the Phelps family, they fence their young in and dont allow them to mix, at all...

and what are the Phelps most famous for, i wonder!

Peace.

[ananiasacts]

@ndyt, I dislike it as much as you. There's a lot of real evidence to that effect in my comments prior to the last few months. I do sincerely believe that religion is the only known placebo that needs a lengthy warning label. But certainly, if we'd like to see it evaporate, we're more likely to see that happen the more slippery we can make the slope leading away from it. Finding paths that preserve any genuine utility, like community cohesiveness, and the integrity of practitioners seems okay.

[ndyt]

@ananiasacts, you seem to have respect for religion, I don't. Oh, I respect its power the same way I would respect a dirty cop. He has power over me but he is evil and must be stopped.

[Wrath0fKhan]

@Medifro

People are getting slain for sorcery in Saudi Arabia. The Arab "Free Thinker Movement" practically operates "underground".

Right! Its the intellectuals who bring progress, not the politicians. Those only can help to implement some conditions that will allow the "Thinkers" to flourish...