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To: zonder who wrote (68908)	3/20/2003 10:21:06 AM
From: Sun Tzu	Respond to of 70976

E.T > I'd be interested to know if the foregoing is true or not Well that depends on which branch of Islam you are talking about. Shia theology holds only through the process of discussion and debate can the faith differentiate between good and evil, reasonable and unreasonable. -- Sandra Mackey On the other hand, Sunni orthodoxy literally means follower of tradition and is more resistant to interpretation, although debate to prove the correctness of an edict is encouraged (on rare occasions some "sunna" or traditions are overturned). Z. > Muslims do not appreciate any change in the Quran Believe it or not there is a small branch of Islam which is in direct opposition to this view. They believe that everything is subject to interpretation including Quran. They actually hold that Quran is mostly symbolic and that its true meaning is different in every era. It is the duty of their Imam to present the correct interpretation. (yes you guess right, they belong to the Shia branch :) In times past there were so many that lead the famous Sufi poet Hafez (named so for the reasons Zonder mentioned) to have this verse: excuse the battle between the 72 religions (branches?), since they could not see the truth they went the path of fiction The issue is that Islam is a very comprehensive system that combines everything from economic system, taxation-profit margins-etc, to political system, -relationship between people and leaders-election (if any) of the leaders-duties of the leader-duties of the people-etc, to health and hygiene issues, and finally to spiritual beliefs. Many religions touch on these issues but none so comprehensively. Needless to say one can never create such a system to the satisfaction of everyone. As a result there have been many branches to Islam with very different perspectives. In fact there were many branches in the past which could be considered neither "Sunni" nor "Shia". The majority of Muslims today are Sunni and belong to one of 5 sub-branches. By and large the remainder are 12-Imams Shia, but I have met at followers of 3 other branches of Shia in person. The issue of fundamentalism is too complex to go over in one post here. So for now I just say that it is a minority within the Islamic world and their teachings and style are more a reflection of what their followers want than a comprehensive image of Islam or Muslims. > In others, like Iran of Ayatollah Khomeini, you write a book that vaguely refers to the Quran in a conversation between two characters, and you are sentenced to death. This is perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of Islamic Iran. There is certainly religious grounds for sentencing an anti-Islamic person to death. However, you have to remember that the said fatwa only came from Khomeini and no other Ayatollah, be it Shia, Sunni, Iranian, or otherwise. When put in the context of the time and the character, you will see that this was a political attempt to rally the people under the guise that "Islam is under threat" not unlike some aspects of the present campaign from Bush administration. Sun Tzu

To: zonder who wrote (68908)	3/21/2003 9:00:35 AM
From: E. T.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Saddam Hussein phoned President George W. Bush. "I had a dream about the United States," he said. "I could see the whole country, and over every building and home was a banner," said Saddam. "What was on the banner?" asked Mr. Bush. "LONG LIVE SADDAM!" answered the dictator. "I'm so glad that you called," said President Bush, "because I too had a dream. In my dream, I saw Iraq and it was more beautiful than ever; totally rebuilt with many tall, gleaming office buildings, large residential subdivisions with swimming pools in every yard; and over every building and home was a big, beautiful banner." "What did the banner say?" asked Saddam. "I don't know," answered President Bush, "I can't read Hebrew."