Perspicuo
Veteran Member
NYTimes: How ISIS Drives Muslims From Islam
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/o...-how-isis-drives-muslims-from-islam.html?_r=0
I find the article's title a contentious statement, because first, it is based on perception, not statistics, and because more vocal dissenters/apostates does not necessarily mean more dissenters/apostates.
In any case, I liked this very much:
I personally don't blame Obama for his statements, because more than academic he must be effective to be the leader of the most militarily powerful, most culturally and politically influential country on Earth, that also happens to be religiously diverse, containing some sects with a great propensity for fundamentalistic calls for lynching and crusade.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/o...-how-isis-drives-muslims-from-islam.html?_r=0
THE Islamic State has visibly attracted young Muslims from all over the world to its violent movement to build a caliphate in Iraq and Syria. But here’s what’s less visible — the online backlash against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, by young Muslims declaring their opposition to rule by Islamic law, or Shariah, and even proudly avowing their atheism. Nadia Oweidat, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, who tracks how Arab youths use the Internet, says the phenomenon “is mushrooming — the brutality of the Islamic State is exacerbating the issue and even pushing some young Muslims away from Islam.”
On Nov. 24, BBC.com published a piece on what was trending on Twitter. It began: “A growing social media conversation in Arabic is calling for the implementation of Shariah, or Islamic law, to be abandoned. Discussing religious law is a sensitive topic in many Muslim countries. But on Twitter, a hashtag which translates as ‘why we reject implementing Shariah’ has been used 5,000 times in 24 hours. The conversation is mainly taking place in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The debate is about whether religious law is suitable for the needs of Arab countries and modern legal systems. Dr. Alyaa Gad, an Egyptian doctor living in Switzerland, started the hashtag. ‘I have nothing against religion,’ she tells BBC Trending, but says she is against ‘using it as a political system.’ ”
I find the article's title a contentious statement, because first, it is based on perception, not statistics, and because more vocal dissenters/apostates does not necessarily mean more dissenters/apostates.
In any case, I liked this very much:
In this recent segment on YouTube, which has been viewed 500,000 times, Brother Rachid addressed President Obama:
“Dear Mr. President, I must tell you that you are wrong about ISIL. You said ISIL speaks for no religion. I am a former Muslim. My dad is an imam. I have spent more than 20 years studying Islam. ... I can tell you with confidence that ISIL speaks for Islam. ... ISIL’s 10,000 members are all Muslims. ... They come from different countries and have one common denominator: Islam. They are following Islam’s Prophet Muhammad in every detail. ... They have called for a caliphate, which is a central doctrine in Sunni Islam.”
I personally don't blame Obama for his statements, because more than academic he must be effective to be the leader of the most militarily powerful, most culturally and politically influential country on Earth, that also happens to be religiously diverse, containing some sects with a great propensity for fundamentalistic calls for lynching and crusade.