Re: Stoning of Somali Woman

Firstly, I think it is terrible that a woman was stoned for this offense, when in my opinion worse things are being done. The difficulty in many faiths, as we have seen this semester, is interpretation. In this case someone of influence declared this offense to be worthy of death. My concern is the lack of accountability for such people. In any belief there will be people with a varying degree of interpretations, from liberal to conservative. What I still do not understand is how these ‘Muslim’ countries function, seemingly, without any accountability. This has been a long-standing issue for me and instances like this make me wonder what the umma is going to do about it. If actions such as these do not represent Islam then when are people going to start publically challenging those who would propose that it does?

Re: Bin Laden Again

I am not a bin Laden supporter at all, but he does have some good points. I think that my main problem with him is not always his points, but the conclusions he takes them to. Are there some serious problems with America, yes. But it would seem that there are serious problems everywhere around the globe. I just dont think that demonizing any one group of people serves any other purpose other than creating fuel for socio-political agendas. In this aspect America is just as guilty as bin Laden.

Class Heading

I have thus far really enjoyed the information presented by Prof. Mozaffar. This past week he mentioned that for the remainder of the semester he was going to frequently ask difficult, ‘grey’ questions. I would normally not have any objections to something like this, but I am concerned with how deep the conversations will truly be allowed to go. Although the class is relatively small I am sure that there is a large range of belief present. In my opinion there are many questions and discussions that need to be had before we as a class, and diverse group of people, can have a meaningful and progressive discussion on questions like predestination vs. freewill. I transferred from a bible institute before coming to Loyola and it wasn’t until junior/senior year before questions of this difficulty were academically dealt with. But, if the purpose is only to get us to begin to think about these questions then I retract my comments, or if Prof. Mozaffar is aiming at some endpoint that my feeble mind has yet to fathom then I also retract.

Re: Re: Mozaffars Media Question

“I think the media does have a responsibility to present the truth” Agreed,

“and most legitimate organizations today attempt to uphold that standard” I dont think so,

You were correct in describing the media as a business, and not neccesarily one that is serving the general public. I think that as we as a generation, and as a people, have become increasingly less critical in our thought and more willing to believe whatever is put before us. We have to remember that everyone has a vantage point and beliefs, this includes media outlets and their owners. Sure whatever is sensational will sell and be put on the front page, but I would also argue that information is deliberatly presented in a certain light in order to sway the drones that make up the masses. Power and political concerns control the media in America. So from what I can see it is less about publishing truth as much as enforcing political affiliations and upholding the current power structure. This is why Islam is being characterized in the way it is, to fuel continued American involvement in the East. I am pretty sure that wnenever we decide to withdraw troops from Iraq etc. the news will start to show a very different side of Islam…

Re: Substance?

It would seem that the Qur’an is a difficult text to fully comprehend. In this light I believe that scholars such as al-Ghazali and Rumi brought lay-people to the texts while offering them interpretations of it. I dont think it is enough to draw people to a text without offering them guidance in its interpretations. Perhaps that is where my problem lies with people like Qutb, they draw people’s minds and hearts to places that they themselves have no idea how to achieve.

I know this is from last week’s lecture, but oh well.

You mentioned that perhaps hope is enough of a reason to justify what Qutb and al-Banna have written. But is hope a reason enough for political reformation and societal change. That might sound like enough, but what if the ‘inspired’ peoples decide to actually enact what Qutb and al-Banna have written. What if they took power on a hope that they could create a utopian society on earth similar to the Golden Age? If their numbers were great enough perhaps they could take power, but then what would they do? Since Qutb and al-Banna’s texts are filled with empty theories what would the realization of what they have written really look like?