I have to say, it has been quite some time since I agreed with Bernard Lewis. However, I find myself nodding along with 6 of his 7 answers. Answer to Question 6 is a standard neocon answer and really ignores the broad scope of history that he seems to arguing from everywhere else. For Ottomanist – he’s not an Arabist nor an Islamicist – I’m surprised he doesn’t mention modern Turkey as a democratic state.
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Back to Education
I’ve spoken previously about my belief in education as being the magic bullet to deal with the many problems of various societies. Below are several excerpts from a speech delivered by the Aga Khan at the opening of a new academy in Kenya, and I think they are fairly representative of my own thoughts on the matter.
Torture is Terror
The passage below is a problem I have been struggling to articulate. From Aziz: What is needed is a generalized principle under which both opposition to terrorism and opposition to torture can be articulated. From a religious perspective, muslims have been arguing (usually defensively) that terrorism (ie, hirabah) goes against Islamic teachings for quite some time – see my own ongoing articles on hirabah here on beliefnet and my earlier hirabah posts. Recently, several muslim organizations issued a joint statement against torture (to which I also signed). Many of the same religious arguments that are made can be applied equally…
Letter Supporting Uyghurs
Open Letter on the Uyghurs For the last several weeks the Uyghurs of Xinjiang have been the subject of increasing harassment of the central Chinese government. A background of key issues can be found at http://bit.ly/uyghur-primer. The death of over 160 people during a short period of time highlights a pattern of abuse against these people that we deplore in the modern period. We demand the following rights for the Uyghurs be recognized: The right to self-determination The citizens of Xinjiang have a right to determine whether they wish to remain as part of China. If so, they are to…