Turkey to initiate reform of Islam (1 Viewer)

[Slidey]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7264903.stm

[...]
An adviser to the project, Felix Koerner, says some of the sayings - also known individually as "hadiths" - can be shown to have been invented hundreds of years after the Prophet Muhammad died, to serve the purposes of contemporary society.
"Unfortunately you can even justify through alleged hadiths, the Muslim - or pseudo-Muslim - practice of female genital mutilation," he says.
"You can find messages which say 'that is what the Prophet ordered us to do'. But you can show historically how they came into being, as influences from other cultures, that were then projected onto Islamic tradition."

The argument is that Islamic tradition has been gradually hijacked by various - often conservative - cultures, seeking to use the religion for various forms of social control.
Leaders of the Hadith project say successive generations have embellished the text, attributing their political aims to the Prophet Muhammad himself.
[...]

A rather radical, progressive and astounding move for a 99.8% Muslim country.

But Turkey, despite its shady past (Armenian genocide and Invasion of Cyprus) has never been what you'd consider a typical Muslim country. It's both secular and a democracy (no Sharia Law). It provides legal protection for homosexuals, has an 80% literacy rate for women (high for a Muslim country), bans headscarves in schools, universities and government buildings, and does not allow the creation of religious schools.

A strict headscarf ban had been in force in Turkish universities since 1997. The ban came after the staunchly secularist military exerted pressure to oust a government it saw as too Islamist.

Still, Turkey is an important seat of Islamic power, so for such a place to move for such vibrant and positive reform of Islam is, to me, heartening.

 

[chicky_pie]

and does not allow the creation of religious schools.

I wish that applies to Australia too

 

[boris]

Turkey is suprisingly western considering its location and Muslim predominance.

 

[MathsIsWeird]

What the real shame is that Turkey is being blamed for stopping the genocide in Cyprus which was started by the greeks against the Cypriot-Turks so the world sees Turkey as a bad country but in fact they saved over 100,000 lives from slaughter, a relative of mine was accutaly killed by Greeks because he was a Turkish police officer in a greek village.
The point im getting to is people do not know the underlying issue with which Turkey was forced to act on behalf of its independant citizens in Cyprus but the world saw this as a way to expand there country so they went against them and with greeks having such positions of power all over the world they blinded the world to the truth of what actually happened there.

 

[jb_nc]

What the real shame is that Turkey is being blamed for stopping the genocide in Cyprus which was started by the greeks against the Cypriot-Turks so the world sees Turkey as a bad country but in fact they saved over 100,000 lives from slaughter, a relative of mine was accutaly killed by Greeks because he was a Turkish police officer in a greek village.
The point im getting to is people do not know the underlying issue with which Turkey was forced to act on behalf of its independant citizens in Cyprus but the world saw this as a way to expand there country so they went against them and with greeks having such positions of power all over the world they blinded the world to the truth of what actually happened there.

ok

 

[44Ronin]

Turkey is suprisingly western considering its location and Muslim predominance.

Turks have been administrative for hundreds of years.

 

[Slidey]

What the real shame is that Turkey is being blamed for stopping the genocide in Cyprus which was started by the greeks against the Cypriot-Turks so the world sees Turkey as a bad country but in fact they saved over 100,000 lives from slaughter, a relative of mine was accutaly killed by Greeks because he was a Turkish police officer in a greek village.
The point im getting to is people do not know the underlying issue with which Turkey was forced to act on behalf of its independant citizens in Cyprus but the world saw this as a way to expand there country so they went against them and with greeks having such positions of power all over the world they blinded the world to the truth of what actually happened there.

Learn your history properly.

Article Four of the Treaty of Guarantee refers to the right of intervention, however it does not refer to military intervention because according to the United Nations Charter, no state has the right to intervene militarily in another state without the consent of the UN Security Council.

The Cyprus Government has always supported the above position and called upon Turkey, which doubted it, to recourse, together with Cyprus, to the International Court of Justice at The Hague for a decision on whether Turkey legally invaded Cyprus. Turkey, however, refuses to do so.

Turkey invaded Cyprus in two waves on the 20 July and 14 August occupying 37% of the island's territory contrary to a series of UN Security Council and UN General Assembly resolutions demanding the end of all military action in Cyprus and the removal of the Turkish army from the island.

After the first wave of the invasion constitutional order in Cyprus was restored with Glafkos Klerides, the leader of Cyprus Parliament taking over as interim president until the return of Makarios III. The Turkish military, however, continued with the second wave.

The result of the invasion was the creation of an internationally unrecognized Turkish Cypriot breakaway state in the areas under Turkish occupation and the displacement of over 160,000 Greek Cypriots who made up the majority of the population of these areas.

 

[Mumma]

Well thats a good move. Pretty much all of the more retarded Islamic rules comes from the hadith.
Now to go visit some islamic forums to read the always amusing angry threads.

 

[jimmayyy]

turkey has always been pretty moderate though

 

[Slidey]

Sure. And "New Islam" won't appeal to all Muslims. But there's got to be so many Muslims out there who can identify with the underlying principles of this reformist movement. Combined with those in Turkey, hopefully it will give
Old Islam" a run for its money, and have a moderating, pacifying influence.

 

[JonathanM]

An admirable country, but there have been significant moves towards a more religious state (like the mass protests over the past few years to remove the ban on head scarves), furthermore, the clue to the growing extremist element in the country and the growing influence over it by other Arab nations can be seen by it's recent drop in support for America and Israel.

 

[Riet]

The kurds are the true hope for the region IMO.