Muslim clerics must reject notions of non-Muslim inferiority (COMMENTARY)

[CopyBoy]

(RNS) After the Paris attacks and mass shooting at San Bernardino, the debates on Islam have predictably intensified, feeding hysteria and Islamophobia.

While the hate rhetoric is alarming, it is important to note that aspects of Muslim theology and jurisprudence constructed during the early years of the Islamic empire influence the wider belief system of extremists. And while most Muslims are not radicalized, they are exposed to extremist views that center on the radical notion of Islamic totalitarianism.

Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, Pakistan’s foremost progressive scholar of Islam, recently stated that the root cause of terror being committed in the name of Islam was “the religious thought” — both preached in madrassas (religious seminaries) and “propagated through political movements.” Ghamidi’s candid views were not acceptable to the clerics, who found ample space in Pakistan’s public spheres. In 2009 he was threatened and his associates attacked, and since 2010 he has been living in Malaysia.

religionnews.com/2015/12/16/muslims-must-reject-notions-of-non-muslim-inferiority-pakistan-isis-taliban-christians-jews-saudi-textbooks-extremism/

 

[SuperLuigi]

He’s right. Supremacist views are one of the heights of arrogance.