bmaruti@wpi.edu (B Maruti) (12/07/89)
While the Muslims and non-muslims who have studied Quran agree that
the proper way of life prescribed by Islam is not being followed in
many places, possibly with harmful results, I am wondering if the
so-called fundamentalism can be considered as a force for good in
turning things around. One area of concern to me is women's rights.
Theoretically (IMHO) women should be better off if Islam is practiced
in the right spirit. If fundamentalists win, will the lot of the
women be better or worse? I am especially interested in hearing
from the people who have experienced the situation in countries
such as Pakistan, India in which the society is traditionally
male-dominated.
I am assuming that fundamentalists are not necessarily interested
in the implementation of Islamic principles in their right spirit.
Hence the question deals with whether they will make the exisiting
situation better or worse. Please feel free to correct my
assumption if your experience does not support it.
Maruti bmaruti@wpi.wpi.eduaraja@m2.csc.ti.com (Ali Raja) (12/12/89)
In article <3458@brazos.Rice.edu> bmaruti@wpi.edu (B Maruti) writes: > While the Muslims and non-muslims who have studied Quran agree that > the proper way of life prescribed by Islam is not being followed in > many places, possibly with harmful results, I am wondering if the > so-called fundamentalism can be considered as a force for good in > turning things around. It is interesting that you would raise this issue. Let us look at the dictionary meaning of the word "fundamentalist". It would derive from the word "fundamental", so presumably anyone who wants to return to the old ways of Islam would be a fundamentalist Muslim, presumably just like one who wishes to return to the old ways of Christianity would be a fundamentalist Christian. In Islam, however, there is no conflict between science and religion. In fact, the acquisition of knowledge, scientific, scholarly is strongly recommended and highly desired. Also, remember that the Quran is not a book on evolution or astronomy etc. However, most of the natural phenomenon mentioned in the Quran have only been supported by our own technological advances [Reference: See "The Bible, the Quran and Science" by Maurice Bucaille]. As such, a fundamentalist Muslim is usually a person who follows the tenets of Islam [love thy neighbour etc], has a very through grounding in the scientific method and logical reasoning, and has an insatiable curiousity about the world surrounding him/her. This, you will note, is an almost opposite image of how the media decides to portray the fundamentalist. > One area of concern to me is women's rights. > Theoretically (IMHO) women should be better off if Islam is practiced > in the right spirit. If fundamentalists win, will the lot of the > women be better or worse? I am especially interested in hearing > from the people who have experienced the situation in countries > such as Pakistan, India in which the society is traditionally > male-dominated. Keeping in mind my points above, I will take the liberty of rephrasing your question in the following manner: # One area of concern to me is women's rights. # Theoretically (IMHO) women should be better off if Islam is practiced # in the right spirit. If traditionalists win, will the lot of the ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ # women be better or worse? I am especially interested in hearing # from the people who have experienced the situation in countries # such as Pakistan, India in which the society is traditionally # male-dominated. My mother is a very successful MD with her own private practise in Pakistan. She says she remembers that when she was very young her father was deadset on her becoming a doctor. Unfortunately, he met quite a bit of opposition from other family members - she tells of the time when she graduated from high school with honours one of the elders in our family came up to her, patted her on the head, gave her a 10-ruppee note, and said "Daughter, now don't study after this". The gist of this is that the traditionalists tended to disapprove of women studying. Fortunately, this was a LONG time ago. The number of people who think like this is declining quite rapidly. Consider how the average marriage ages have been affected - people would get married right after graduating from high school (if they even got that far). However, it is considered almost essential now for a boy/girl to at least have some sort of college degree. So, I believe that things are changing. Similarly, I believe, the absolute segregation of the sexes, the incarceration of women in the homes etc. seems to be something that has developed over the last few centuries and was not practised in the early days of Islam. What would happen if the traditionalists were to win out? I suppose a restoration of the status quo that has prevailed in the 17th/18th centuries etc. > I am assuming that fundamentalists are not necessarily interested > in the implementation of Islamic principles in their right spirit. Traditionalists, please. :-) > Hence the question deals with whether they will make the exisiting > situation better or worse. Please feel free to correct my > assumption if your experience does not support it. One thing to note is that Muslims seem to feel very strongly about their religion, and will go to extreme pains to make sure that they stay within the limits of Islam. On the other hand, the traditionalists, while they feel strongly about their traditions, still do not feel as deeply about them as a Muslim would feel if he were to disobey Muslim fundamentals. I myself have seen that people old enough to be traditionalists are usually not so if they tend to be learned about Islam. In fact, traditionalism seems to be tied inversely proportionally to fundamentalism (in the way that I define it). With the growing number of people in the world who claim alliegiance to Islam, I doubt that traditionalsm is going to be a serious problem in the future to come.