Activists in Arab World Vie to Define Islamic State

[Gerald]

Ali Sallabi, left, a Libyan, and Abdel Moneim Abou el-Fotouh, an Egyptian, say their states should blend Islam and modernity.

CAIRO — By force of this year’s Arab revolts and revolutions, activists marching under the banner of Islam are on the verge of a reckoning decades in the making: the prospect of achieving decisive power across the region has unleashed an unprecedented debate over the character of the emerging political orders they are helping to build.

Few question the coming electoral success of religious activists, but as they emerge from the shadows of a long, sometimes bloody struggle with authoritarian and ostensibly secular governments, they are confronting newly urgent questions about how to apply Islamic precepts to more open societies with very concrete needs.

In Turkey and Tunisia, culturally conservative parties founded on Islamic principles are rejecting the name “Islamist” to stake out what they see as a more democratic and tolerant vision.

In Egypt, a similar impulse has begun to fracture the Muslim Brotherhood as a growing number of politicians and parties argue for a model inspired by Turkey, where a party with roots in political Islam has thrived in a once-adamantly secular system. Some contend that the absolute monarchy of puritanical Saudi Arabia in fact violates Islamic law.

A backlash has ensued, as well, as traditionalists have flirted with timeworn Islamist ideas like imposing interest-free banking and obligatory religious taxes and censoring irreligious discourse.

The debates are deep enough that many in the region believe that the most important struggles may no longer occur between Islamists and secularists, but rather among the Islamists themselves, pitting the more puritanical against the more liberal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/30/wo...c=me&ref=world


Note: 29, 2011

[1480]

Like rearranging the deck furniture on the Titanic....

[Gerald]

Yes, many difficult things are on the journey

[1480]

My pappy always told me "there are things in this world that will never change, not because the capability to change those things are not there, its because those involved don't want them to."

[Gerald]

True words,

[CaptainHaplo]

The problem is that the "hardcore" islamists will finally get tired of talking and start blowing up the competition. They don't care that its not "fair". They will resort to the same old tactics, and the general islamic public will respond as it always does - by silence. The "liberal" side gets weakened - the hardcore get stronger because people won't put a stop to it out of fear.

Look at Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc - if you want to see the history. Its simply going to repeat itself.

[Gerald]

Only time will tell.

[MH]

Very ,interesting, times ahead.
My personal feeling is that i'm are in middle of slime tsunami.
Time will tell.

[Gerald]

Maybe, "Islam tsunami"....

[1480]

The religion of peace.....

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by Vendor

Maybe, "Islam tsunami"....

Islamageddon.

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

Islamageddon.