Category Archives: Hermeneutics

religious people need to recommit to and engage with critical thinking

By bananabrain | Published: August 23, 2010
following an unusually thoughtful broadcast last week by richard dawkins (he’s obviously trying to take on board how much his militancy turns people off by some of the pleas he made on behalf of sacred texts as fine language, cultural literacy and so on) i am grappling again with some of the issues raised by [...]
Also posted in Anti Muslim bigotry, Antisemitism, Blogosphere, Christian Evangelical Nutters, Democracy, Exegesis, Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Religion, Hate Speech, Human Rights, Interfaith, Islamism, Jewish Extremism | 16 Comments

One Caliph to rule them all

By Ziryab | Published: August 18, 2010
This is a re-post of an article by Rashad Ali first posted on 18/07/09 **** Hizb ut-Tahrir; Jamaat-e-Islami; Ikhwan al-Muslimeen and al-Qaeda all have, as a fundamental aim; the establishment of a global dictatorship under the rule of one Caliph, an autocrat, who will impose one interpretation of the Shar’iah over the entire globe. They intend to [...]
Also posted in History, Islamism, Sharia | Leave a comment

Can Muslims be loyal citizens of non-Muslim countries?

By Guest | Published: August 9, 2010
This is a cross-post by Usama Hasan Bismillah. This is by Rashad Ali (edited by myself), in response to a discussion about whether or not Muslims can be loyal citizens of non-Muslim countries whilst remaining part of the fellowship of the people of God (which is what the Qur’anic term “ummah” means, eg in Surah al-Anbiya’ [...]
Posted in Hermeneutics | 33 Comments

Nasr Abu Zayd is dead

By Faisal | Published: July 6, 2010
Nasr Abu Zayd, an Egyptian scholar who was declared an apostate for challenging mainstream Muslim views on the Koran, died in Cairo on Monday. He was 66. “Religion has been used, politicized, not only by groups but also the official institutions in every Arab country,” he told Reuters in 2008. The distinction between “the domain of [...]
Posted in Hermeneutics | 3 Comments

G!D the “misogynist” and other cyclical lepidopterisms

By bananabrain | Published: May 6, 2010
thanks to the delightful sonia from pickled politics, i ended up in a jolly discussion over at butterflies and wheels on feminism and religion. they seem to have closed the comments for some reason, but i still thought it was an interesting subject and thought i’d continue it here if anyone (like ophelia benson or [...]
Also posted in Blogosphere, Esoterica, Ethics, Exegesis, Feminism, Human Rights, Interfaith, Jewish Extremism, Moral relativism, Obscurantism, Secularism | 8 Comments

Did Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, rape a nine-year old girl called Aisha?

By Guest | Published: March 24, 2010
This is a guest-post by Tarek Fatah **** The allegation that the Prophet Muhammad married Aisha in the year 624AD when she was only a nine-year old girl, is not new. However, the fact this controversy has surfaced on rightwing blogs, is something that has caught a lot of Muslims by surprise. It was sparked by a lecture [...]
Also posted in Anti Muslim bigotry | 25 Comments

the kangaroo court of militant atheism is a toxic, anti-reason fallacy

By bananabrain | Published: March 5, 2010
on a recent visit to the natural history museum, i was struck by the number of hijabs, kippot and crucifixes on display. unfazed by fossils, geological displays of the age of the earth, australopithecine skulls and the marble statue of darwin that gazes enigmatically over the entrance hall, they gamely queued for the dinosaur exhibit, [...]
Also posted in Antisemitism, Freedom of Expression, Interfaith, Obscurantism | 63 Comments

One Caliph to rule them all

By Guest | Published: July 18, 2009
This is a guest post by Rashad Ali **** Hizb ut-Tahrir; Jamaat-e-Islami; Ikhwan al-Muslimeen and al-Qaeda all have, as a fundamental aim; the establishment of a global dictatorship under the rule of one Caliph, an autocrat, who will impose one interpretation of the Shar’iah over the entire globe. They intend to do this through unifying countries where [...]
Also posted in Islamism | 88 Comments

Homosexuality in Islam

By Yossarian | Published: July 12, 2009
One of the bizarre hypocrisies of modern Britain is that criticising people who claim religious sanction for homophobia can be labeled bigotry but, at all other times, homophobia is the unacceptable bigotry. I have always attempted to square this circle by drawing a line between those who say we are all sinners and homosexuality is a [...]
Also posted in Homophobia | Tagged , | 38 Comments

The hijab, Sarkozy and all that

By Zorro | Published: June 25, 2009
Sarkozy’s call for a ban on the veil has indeed opened up a number of issues and perspectives, even if he may well have had his own motives for doing so! We have had the normal reaction on the left to condemn him, the reaction from the right in the UK to call for a ban [...]
Also posted in Anti Fascism, Anti Muslim bigotry, Democracy, Ethics, Exegesis, Freedom of Expression, Human Rights, Islamism, Politics, Secularism, Sharia | 4 Comments