Heretic

Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now

Ayaan Hirsi Ali CENTRAL 297.272 H6698h 2015

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Ayaan Hirsi Ali fights Islam and shows one side. I'm more impressed by the education and interpretation approach of Majiid Nawaz. The goal is to help poor Muslims integrate into the modern age, as teachers and contributors. Surely there are more paths to muslim blessings than death.

autobiographical chapters

• Somalia (before wars), Mecca, Kenya, Netherlands, USA
• 16yo Muslim brotherhood, questioning later
• arranged marriage to Canadian, stopped in Germany, claimed asylum

Five Amendments:

• 1. Muhammad's semi-divine and infallible status along with the literalis reading of the Qur'an, particularly those parts that were revealed in Medina;
• 2. The investment in life after death instead of life before death;
• 3. Sharia, the body of legislation derived from the Qur'an, the hadith, and the rest of Islamic jurisprudence;
• 4. The practice of empowering individuals to enforce Islamic law by commanding right and forbidding wrong;
• 5. The imperative to wage jihad, or holy war.

Many examples of suicide bombers lauded by parents

• young person straight to paradise to intercede for family
• $25K checks from Saddam Hussein to families of Palestinian suicide bombers

Koran may have been altered over time

• 77000 words, 6200 verses
• recited, not read, not prayer Michael Cook
• Angelika Neuwirth of the Free University of Berlin
  • Corpus Coranicum at the Brandenburg Academy of Science and Humanities
  • photographing old Qur'anic manuscripts in Yemen

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My brain farts

Within the mythos ...

• If early Mecca Qu'ran is valid, perhaps later Qu'ran is not
• Perhaps Angel Gabriel stopped talking to Mohammed when he became violent, but Mohammed was still expected to provide more?
  • That wouldn't be the first or last time that spiritual teachers were corrupted by power.
  • Does the Qu'ran discuss corruption by power?
• What if captured/failed suicide bombers are not executed (death is their goal) but kept alive as long as medical science and careful supervision can facilitate? Still as prisoners, prevented from suicide or hurting others, just "lovebombed" forever?
  • Would that discourage other attempts, because it is antithetical to the "quick/easy" rapture goal?