Tuesday 22 December 2015

A Medieval Antidote to ISIS - NYTimes.com

I have quoted Mustafa Akyol a couple of times before, in 2011 and 2012. He promotes a more liberal and tolerant Islam.
In this article he introduces us to the concept of "irja" or "postponement". Earthly judgements and punishment -- like those of ISIS -- should be "postponed" until the after life when they will be done by God.
Sadly this is a Sisyphean task. And Akyol doesn't have a good track record. He said for example, in his 2011 article, that Islamic extremism was in the wane, whereas it was just about to take off. Immediately after that judgement Syria erupted in civil war and ISIS began their rampages.
Oh well, someone has to try to find a way to move Islam in a more tolerant direction. There are all too few Muslims like Akyol, given over to this largely thankless task.