على ظعفيت التواضع الديني

يكتب الدكتور صالح جرادات في كتابه "في الفكر السياسي والإجتماعي" أن الانسان يجب أن يحافظ على توازنه في مجال قدرته على التفكير السليم والتمييز بين "المعقول واللامعقول"، ولذلك يجب أن يكون سلوكه ميلاً إلى "الوسطية والإعتدال". ولكن أسأل، ما هو أساس أو المنطق وراء الوسطية والإعتدال؟ وكيف تفرق بين المعقول والغير معقول في مسائل الدين والإيمان؟ ما الذي سيفرق بين المذاهب الصحيحة و الغير صحيحة؟ فكرة التواضع الديني ليست مبنية على أي مذهب إسلامي أو حتى علمي -- انها تشير إلى الثقافة الاسلامية التقلديية التي خالية من مفهيم "متعصبة".لولا الضغوط السياسية والإجتماعية والإديلويلجية مثل العلمانية،ليبرالية، والفردية الخ ما كانت نشأت فكرة الوسطية الغامضة لكي تحضن هذه المبادئ 

الإسلام دين صريح جداً. إنه واضح على مكانه المفترض في المجتمع والقانون والحكم السياسي وبين الحدود للحرية المدنية. لماذا نتكلم عن التواضع الديني إذا نحن فعلاً نؤمن بقيم إسلامية صلبة لا تسطيع أن تتغير؟ وكيف نستطيع أن نفرق بما هو المفهوم الوسطي المقبول من التفكير المنحرف؟ هل توجد نظرية إسلامية لتفعل ذلك؟ هل توجد نظرة علمية ممكن أن نستشيره؟ الشيوخ والعلماء الاسلام لا يجيد طبقة واحدة للتعبيرلافكارهم و كثيراً منها لا تتوافق، فإذاً التوسط فكرة نسبيه ولا يصح أن ناخذ بها بشكل جدية.

Arab TV shows

I have yet to watch a peaceful and informative, political or intellectual Arab TV show. They truly reflect the nature of intellectual discourse in Arab society. The typical routine goes as follows: the guest starts his 10 minutes speech by saying bissmellah, and then calmly starts reciting his prepared speech, and before you know all you can hear are violent screams of accusations, death threats, lies, Quranic versus and hadiths... After they calm down, the host summarizes tries to condense the same old points we know, and then moves on to the next guest. No matter how much time you give some of these guests, they will never stop talking.

TV shows are more interested in generating meaningless controversy that maintains the status quo than being open and critical to debate. So for example, a TV show host wouldn't condemn one journalist's claim that the challenging guest ought to be killed because she is not a Muslim.

Every TV show with the exception of Al-Hura showed no appreciation or positive reference to any of al-Qimni's writing. They only discuss the accusations against him in press or in other TV shows. The last thing the TV hosts is interested in is his scientific conclusion on Islam.

Al-Qimni recieves State Award of Merit in Social Sciences

Sayed al-Qimni is a highly controversial Egyptian intellectual, secularist and author that has recently received the highest state award (ga-izat al dawla al takdeereya fe 3eloom al egtameya) for his religious scholarship. Lots of religious leaders and scholars protested at the Ministry of Culture’s decision to award Al-Qimni who has been already accused of apostasy. Al-Qimni denies the existence of prophets Abraham and Moses. Lawyer Nabih al Wahsh filed a lawsuit alleging that Qimni does not deserve the award, that his works "deride Islam" and that "he is skeptical about the message of Prophet Mohammed...Plus the prize is from state money and most Egyptians reject Qimni’s ideas. Thus, he does not deserve the prize.” Another lawyer with a long record of suing intellectuals lashed out at the Minister of Culture and also filed a lawsuit for the revocation of the prize. The Islamist group al-Jamaa al-Islamiya issued a statement also condemning the award.

The State Award is not given to anyone based on the degree of his piety or his following of Islam - we are in Egypt not in Saudi Arabia. The award is granted to Egyptian icons who have avidly applied the ethics and basics of scientific research reaching conclusions and facts based on true references without tampering or twisting. Once again, the State Award is not a religious award. -- Al-Qimni

Women accused of wearing trousers in Sudan

A Sudanese woman who was arrested in July for flouting Sudan's decency laws for wearing trousers has been spared the expected Islamic punishment of 40 lashes. Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein was instead ordered to pay a fine of about $200 following a court decision in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.

Scores of female supporters rallied behind Lubna shouting 'freedom'. When asked about the verdit, Lubna said she refuses to pay the fine and would rather go to jail.

Lubna, together with 12 other women were arrested during a raid at a restaurant in Khartoum in July. Ten of the women accepted a punishment of 10 lashes, but al-Hussein and two other women opted to go to trial.

Lubna was working as a press officer for the UN when she was arrested. She said that she wanted to get rid of Article 152 of the Sudanese penal code which decrees 40 ashes for anyone "who commits an indecent act which violates public morality or wears indecent clothing"

Israel approves construction of more settlements in West Bank

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has authorized the construction of 455 housing units in the West Bank. This has become the first approved construction project since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to power in March.

It comes despite US pressure to freeze settlement construction. Palestinian authorities have suspended peace talks with Israel until a complete freeze to the settlements in its occupied territorities.

Close to half a million Jews live in more than 100 illegal settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem. The settlements are illegal under a unanimous judgement of the world court, including US justice system.