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Rushdie calls for Islam reform
Thursday, 11 August, 2005
British writer Salman Rushdie says the Islamic religion needs to go through a Reformation phase to bring it into the modern era.
Mr Rushdie, in an article in a British newspaper, argued that a broader-minded interpretation of the religion will lead to improved relations between Muslim and Western communities, and ultimately deter young disaffected Muslims from turning into suicide bombers.
"What is needed is a move beyond tradition -- nothing less than a reform movement to bring the core concepts of Islam into the modern age," Mr Rushdie wrote in The Times newspaper.
"A Muslim Reformation to combat not only the jihadi ideologues but also the dusty, stifling seminaries of the traditionalists, throwing open the windows of the closed communities to let in much-needed fresh air."
He said a renewed interpretation of the religion will lessen the alienation felt by young British Muslims.
Four British-born Muslim men were the alleged suicide bombers that wreaked chaos on London trains and a bus on July 7, in attacks that killed 56 people.
Mr Rushdie, an Indian-born Muslim, was forced into hiding after a Muslim leader issued a fatwa against him in 1989 calling for the author to be executed for alleged blasphemy and apostasy in his novel The Satanic Verses.
Considered one of the world's best living writers, Mr Rushdie has written a number of other books including Midnight's Children, The Moor's Last Sigh and The Ground Beneath Her Feet.
In the article, he said many Muslims in Britain are alienated from the wider community, allowing for negative fervour to breed.
He also said the Koran, Islam's holy book, should be treated as a historical text rather than interpreted literally.
"The insistence within Islam that the Koranic text is the infallible, uncreated word of God renders analytical scholarly discourse all but impossible," he said.
"Why would God be influenced by the socioeconomics of seventh-century Arabia, after all?
The novelist's forthcoming novel, Shalimar the Clown, which was on Thursday included in the Man Booker Prize longlist, concerns a young Muslim boy who is guided by a radical mullah to become an Islamic terrorist.
Mr Rushdie, in an article in a British newspaper, argued that a broader-minded interpretation of the religion will lead to improved relations between Muslim and Western communities, and ultimately deter young disaffected Muslims from turning into suicide bombers.
"What is needed is a move beyond tradition -- nothing less than a reform movement to bring the core concepts of Islam into the modern age," Mr Rushdie wrote in The Times newspaper.
"A Muslim Reformation to combat not only the jihadi ideologues but also the dusty, stifling seminaries of the traditionalists, throwing open the windows of the closed communities to let in much-needed fresh air."
He said a renewed interpretation of the religion will lessen the alienation felt by young British Muslims.
Four British-born Muslim men were the alleged suicide bombers that wreaked chaos on London trains and a bus on July 7, in attacks that killed 56 people.
Mr Rushdie, an Indian-born Muslim, was forced into hiding after a Muslim leader issued a fatwa against him in 1989 calling for the author to be executed for alleged blasphemy and apostasy in his novel The Satanic Verses.
Considered one of the world's best living writers, Mr Rushdie has written a number of other books including Midnight's Children, The Moor's Last Sigh and The Ground Beneath Her Feet.
In the article, he said many Muslims in Britain are alienated from the wider community, allowing for negative fervour to breed.
He also said the Koran, Islam's holy book, should be treated as a historical text rather than interpreted literally.
"The insistence within Islam that the Koranic text is the infallible, uncreated word of God renders analytical scholarly discourse all but impossible," he said.
"Why would God be influenced by the socioeconomics of seventh-century Arabia, after all?
The novelist's forthcoming novel, Shalimar the Clown, which was on Thursday included in the Man Booker Prize longlist, concerns a young Muslim boy who is guided by a radical mullah to become an Islamic terrorist.
