Resisting Blasphemy Laws in Egypt
17th February 2016
Islam Buheiry is one of those rare birds, a genuine Islamic reformer. Notice that what he wants to do isn’t a “reformation” of Islam, but a reinterpretation of its core texts in the hadith and the sira. It’s a tough job, and I doubt that he and people like him will ever succeed — the Koran says what it says, after all, and the violence and misogyny of Islam are clearly laid out in numerous hadith. Many (if not most) of them would have to be purged completely to make Islamic doctrine less inherently violent. Yet there’s no doubt that he is putting his life on the line in what may well be a futile endeavor.
Before you jump all over him for what he’s attempting to do, bear in mind that the gate of ijtihad (independent interpretation of Islamic scriptures) has been closed for more than a thousand years, and any reopening of it will be attempted within Islam itself. That is, you and I and other non-Muslims will have no input into the process, and no say whatsoever in whether it will succeed. All we can do is quarantine Islamic countries and keep Muslims out of our societies until the unlikely occasion when such reinterpretation occurs.