What people forget in these dark days of the Bush Administration is that America is actually the most revolution prone country the world has ever seen. In almost every field, politics, economics, technology, finance, religion, business, philanthropy, law, philosophy Americans have at some time or another in recent history upset the applecart.

That was why I've long thought that if Islam is ever going to undergo a radical make-over it will originate in the United States. Most of the traditional Muslim countries are too stagnant to change without an external impulse.

In most of Europe Muslims are a problem to be managed.

But in America Muslims are just another generation of immigrants who are expected to sink or swim largely on their own.

In America Muslims enjoy both freedom and prosperity. In America Muslims can see how previous generations of migrants have been able to adapt to the American mainstream while retaining the essentials of their culture.

And only in America do Muslims enjoy a priceless asset – the honesty of kafirs uninhibited by political correctness and armed with the first amendment right of FREE SPEECH.

Only in America do kafirs dare to ask Muslims the hard questions. Questions that, on the whole, Europeans would never ask.

To some extent all this is true of Australia as well but Australia lacks America's weight.

Well, has the make-over of Islam finally started?

See:

US MUSLIM WOMEN SEEK ACTIVE FAITH ROLE

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7265021.stm

"Laleh Bakhtiar is a Muslim scholar who has translated the Koran, making controversial changes in standard translations which she says more accurately reflect the original spirit of the religion.

"Dr Bhaktiar's English text has removed derogatory references to Christians and Jews. It changes many of the most important words, even substituting the word "God" for "Allah", which she says is more inclusive. Most controversially, her Koran rejects the idea, in Chapter Four, verse 34, that men may beat their wives."

A straw in the wind?

Another attempt at reform that will be snuffed out?

I don’t know but I am fascinated.

Dear Steven :) I'm just waiting for the death threats and 'Fatwa' condemning her to death for "messing with the unchanging word of Allah"

While I fully recognize her noble intent...and her desire to reduce tensions between Muslims and Christians, the problem is.. the Quran was given in Arabic, and if you speak to most Muslims, especially religiously educated ones, they will confirm that the 'Quran' is in Arabic, everything else is not the Quran if it has been translated.

Perhaps her 'translation' is one of 2 things.

1/ An attempt to minimize disruption to the Muslim community who will always 'know the real truth' which of course will come out when they are stronger. i.e.. she is engaging in deliberate deception.

2/ She is simply a well meaning Muslim woman trying to make it better for everyone.

If it is "2" then one needs to determine how far such an idea would go under the watchful eye of the Muslim countries where it is a majority.
Of course.. it could change the flavor of Islam in America but good grief.. they are not the "Muslim world" by any stretch.

The other important point is.. the "Spirit of the Religion"

Does her translation actually reflect this ? or is it simply her desire to be socially accepted?

I simply don't see how you can determine the "spirit" of the religion apart from it's founder and his approach to it?

It seems like trying to make Jesus 'gay' to make gays more acceptable.

the americans certainly changed christianity, with the 'later-day saints'. of course, it began changing on the death of christ.

'eye of the needle' and 'give all you have to the poor' was 'explained' to allow the rich and arrogant to be christians, and the priests to be rich and arrogant.

not much left of christianity to subvert. so they turned their attention to the new religion, communism. eisenhower said "we'll sell cokes to their grandchildren," and he was right on the money.

now the yanks want middle east oil really bad, and the usmc is letting them down again. so they'll try to buy the kids, with fashion, entertainment, and freedom. it worked fine here, but ozzies are an easy mark. nowadays, the middle east has more money than the yanks and is much harder to impress.

Another straw in the wind?

VIOLENCE LEAVES YOUNG IRAQIS DOUBTING CLERICS

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/world/middleeast/04youth.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

"BAGHDAD — After almost five years of war, many young people in Iraq, exhausted by constant firsthand exposure to the violence of religious extremism, say they have grown disillusioned with religious leaders and skeptical of the faith that they preach.

"I hate Islam and all the clerics because they limit our freedom every day and their instruction became heavy over us,” said Sara, a high school student in Basra. “Most of the girls in my high school hate that Islamic people control the authority because they don’t deserve to be rulers."

Among doctrinaire Western lefties is it axiomatic that the US bears sole responsibility for the post-war violence in Iraq. Perhaps Iraqis are starting to recognise who are the real villains.

Now that would be encouraging.

And in PAKISTAN there are also be signs that Muslims are rejecting dogmatic clergy in favour of more secularist parties. The secular Awami National Party did surprisingly well in North West Frontier Province.

See:

http://www.libdemvoice.org/pakistan-elections-good-news-from-the-north-west-frontier-2204.html

Perhaps the "Ummah" is about to be hit by a wave of radical change.

Boaz_David:

Just to refresh your memory on the following statement you made:

“. . . the problem is.. the Quran was given in Arabic, and if you speak to most Muslims, especially religiously educated ones, they will confirm that the 'Quran' is in Arabic, everything else is not the Quran if it has been translated.”

I thought you might find the following link interesting and worthy of further investigation should you be interested. Its food for thought- I have quoted parts and have enclosed the URL link.

http://www.syriacaramaicquran.com/index.html

“The problem lies in the fact the Muslim commentators do not understand the language in which the Quran was written. The language of the Quran has always been Aramaic. Aramaic renders interpretations that are totally different from those rendered by Muslim commentators throughout the last fourteen centuries.

The Quran states that its language is Arabic, but Arab speaking people have difficulty understanding its language. The difficulty stems from the fact that the language of the Quran has always been and still is Aramaic. In the seventh century, the written language of the Near East was Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, not Arabic. The classical Arabic is a distorted form of Aramaic. The Palmyrene and Nabataean inscriptions in Syria and Transjordan indicates that these two Arab kingdoms had their literature written in Aramaic, Greek and some Latin. None of these inscriptions were written in the "classical Arabic".

I thought it might be important to include the authors credentials and they are as follows:

“The author Gabriel Sawma is a lawyer specializes in International Law, with emphasis on the European Union Law, the Middle East Laws, and the Islamic Shari'a Law. He is considered a dinstinguided authority on Islam. Professor of Aramaic Studies. Author of A Study in the Aramaic Language of Jesus". The Author is a lecturer on Women's rights in the Qur'an, the Aramaic influence in the Qur'an and in Biblical Hebrew.”

Hi Tammy
I read that link.. I didn't see any actual example of how this might impact such things as 9:29 or 9:30.. but I did see that they claim the translations are different.. if you have any other link to the content, by all means supply it and I'll have a ferret around.
cheers.