Quote Originally Posted by Furunculus View Post
ditching the hadith may be a good start, there was an article i read to that effect recently, may have been the other thread.
Quote Originally Posted by Brenus View Post
The perception of Islam as a monolith was favoured by the so-called clash of civilisations.
Islam never was one and never be except in the dreamed Uma, the Community of the Believers.
By structure, Islam is poly, is multiple.
There is one God but no Pope.
If you have studied the Koran, had developed a doctrine which is followed by a lot a people then you are a Doctor, an Imam.
As far as I know, the Hadith, while an important text is not supposed to be infallible. The Qu'ran is supposed to be infallible as it is God's revelation to Muhammad, whereas the Hadith a traditional version of his life and acts.

Huntingdon's view of the clash of civilisations is fundamentally flawed. What is civilisation? How do we classify it? Surely this means viewing certain peoples as barbarians, or at the very least uncivilised...

In essence the classification Islam as a monolithic threat to Western culture is unfair. Muslims, like Christians, secularists and other religions, indeed any gathering of more than one person , will have their differences. Indeed there are many undesirable parts of 'western culture' that are much more threatening to most people's view of civilised behaviour.

Uncontrolled immigration, or heavily restricted immigration is not the answer. A balance must be struck between the two. Similarly the idea that any 'different' immigrants to a country must adapt or leave is backward and oppressive. Tolerance and plurality must be exercised within Europe and the other 'western nations' in order to allow Islam, and other cultures to work within a non-despotic model.

I'd write more but I'm a little rushed for time... I'll try and dig up the essay I wrote on Islam in Europe last semester, I'm going off the top of my head atm...