Brother,

>>>Slavery is one thing (of the past) but what about today's horrible gender inequality that is widely accepted - I'm thinking of the 4+ wives that a Muslim male can marry if he can provide (?) for all of them, the inheritance laws that does not favour women, the general acceptance of the superiority of man over woman, etc.>>>

You perspective brings a breath of fresh air in the discussion! It really does not matter which religion one scrutinizes, one always finds the cultural and political baggage wherein it is nurtured and practiced tagging along for the ride (religion does not exist in the abstract). Look at how biblical texts were also utilized by europeans (once the bible went to europe) to justify the political and economic subjugation of africans.

What is important for an 'enlightened age' as we claim ours to be (sometimes one wonders though with all the crap that is going on in the world), to accentuate the positive, uplifting interpretations of ancient texts to reflect the direction humanity must go... towards an ever expanding circle of wealth sharing, knowledge sharing, ...

Latjor

>
>Folks,
>
>Nobody should be surprised that nowhere in the koranic texts is slavery mentioned as the evil we know it as in modern society. The texts do reflect the state of affairs when they were written. Islam's conservatism throughout history that didn't allow breakaway groups/individuals to exert pressures on its main branch(es) has prevented closer scrutiny and interpretation of its scriptures. I would like to think that most people will agree that the scriptures in all these ancient religions are meant for interpretation and are not for raw digestion. A reference for such interpretation would be the contemporary society one is living in. Therefore political atmosphere does have a significant influence on what people make of religious teachings. The Arab lands, where Islam originated and spread from, have not been blessed with congenial political environments in modern times. The norm, from the 20th century to now, has been repressive regimes that misuse the scriptures' literal cons
>ervative message on a gullible, and ignorant, populace to perpetuate their existence. It'd be interesting to see what kind of influence to the Islamic scriptures a future coalition of progressive and democratic Shiite states in Iran and Irak will have.
>Slavery is one thing (of the past) but what about today's horrible gender inequality that is widely accepted - I'm thinking of the 4+ wives that a Muslim male can marry if he can provide (?) for all of them, the inheritance laws that does not favour women, the general acceptance of the superiority of man over woman, etc.
>I know that I'm straying; my point is that the Koran is ripe for revision. But to believers this might be blasphemy because the texts are straight from god and cannot be changed. Still, I hope that the same god that equipped us with the ability to reason will also let us interpret his texts to make us all live in a better and fairer world.
>
>Cheers!
>Abdou
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Kejau Touray <[log in to unmask]>
>Date: Thursday, August 4, 2005 1:00 pm
>Subject: Re: Question - Islam, Slavery
>
> > SunniPath, what about the ShiaPath? Most of us Sunnis and
> > naturally forget
> > the existence and therefore the political rights of other muslims,
> > likeShias and Ahmadiyas. A case in point is the war in Iraq. The
> > Sunnis(minorities) were in power for most of our modern history
> > and actively
> > oppressed the majority Shia and Kurds. Now the majority (Shias and
> > Kurds)are in power the Sunnis turn to terrorists killing innocent Shia
> > children and women. They accuse the west of atrocities against
> > Muslims in
> > Iraq, even though the majority of the people are being killed by Sunni
> > Muslims.
> > My point is that slavery is against all that Islam stands for, the
> > test:Kul Huwa Alluhu Had! There is only one God! Slave and master
> > is like God
> > and mankind, and therefore Sirk to say slavery is allowed but
> > regulated in
> > Islam.
> >
>
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