Funmurphys: the Blog

Islamic Reformation

Islamic Reformation is one of those topics that has been floating around awhile. You can find academic treatments, left-of-centerdiscussions, right-of-center thoughts, pundit pieces, and of course blog musings. Despite the implicit or claimed parallel to the Protestant Reformation, what's really being proposed would be nothing like the that. What really being proposed is nothing to do with a return to Koranic principles and behavior, but typically the opposite - the use of interpretation to remake Islam in a way the author likes.

To get a better understanding, let's review a little. First came Judaism. Classical Judaism was a very legalistic religion - the path to rightness with God was through following the Mosaic laws which covered all aspects of life, and as time went on interpretation of these laws was often more severe than the original. This would change with the destruction of the Temple and the diaspora, and Judaism became less legalistic. When Christianity came along, there was a struggle at the very start about whether Christianity would be another sect of Judeism. This was resolved by the first church council, and one presided over by the Apostles, which decided that Christians did not have to follow the Mosaic law. It was over this struggle that Paul penned Galatians, in which it is made clear that in Christianity faith alone is the path to rightness with God. Over time, the Catholic church would develop it's canonical interpretation of the Bible, and this would change to faith plus works. In addition to the interpretations, there were clear abuses, where people within the church hierarchy were not following the teachings of the church. Along came reformers who not only objected to the abuses, but argued that interpretations that had built up over the centuries did not properly reflect God's will as revealed in the Bible. Martin Luther would be the most famous, and start the Protestant Reformation which was a rejection of centuries of interpretation and call to return to original, Biblical, Christianity (sparked by Luther's reading of Galations). The Protestant Reformation was about more than just curbing abuses within Catholicism, it was over fundamental doctrines.

My understanding of Islam is that it is much like classical Judaism -- very legalistic with rules set forth to cover all aspects of life. Oddly enough, most people calling for an Islamic Reformation are not looking for a return to its seventh century roots, but instead want a wholesale build up of non-Koranic interpretation to try to bring it to what is, in their opinion, up to date. The real parallel, unmentionable due to the Jew hatred indemic in the moslem world, is the change in Judeism from the time of the pharasees to its more modern versions like Reformed or Conservative -- or how it went from a legalistic faith with specific rules for every circumstance to a faith that is far less legalistic and adaptable to where and when the believer lives.