[Joe Dees]
In this case, those who do so have the express authority of the Koran behind them; if an Islamic is NOT a fundamentalist, (s)he is an apostate, for unlike the Bible, which was supposedly INSPIRED by God and is in nonfundamentalist Christian circles considered to be leavened with human error, the Koran (literally, the Recitation) was directly DICTATED bu GOD's chosen messenger angel to Mohammed, and is therefore literally true for all true Muslims.
[rhinoceros]
Even so, if you take into account the linguistic dynamics, this does not make much sense. The words may be the same but the meaning shifts under communication pressure. Then, one can read the words either in a specific contemporary context or in the "prophet's" context. Also, as new things and concepts are always being developed, one has to improvise ways to make the new concepts fit to the Koran's words.
And that is exactly what is really happenning; muslims have developed this into an intricate art in the service of their daily needs. We have some "traditional" muslim communities in Greece, and I have heard how a legal dispute is resolved: each one of the adversaries goes to a religious authority and asks for a favorable phrase from the Koran supporting their case. And of course the judge, being human, may resolve the case according to a political agenda, established ways of social conduct, his own preconceptions or fears, or even common sense.
In a bigger scale, global economics are so intertwined that some Islamists cannot harm the "infidels" without causing harm to themselves (e.g. Saudi Arabian oil sheiks), while others can if they are pushed hard enough. It is all too human.
---- This message was posted by rhinoceros to the Virus 2002 board on Church of Virus BBS. <http://virus.lucifer.com/bbs/index.php?board=51;action=display;threadid=25921>
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