http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4719835.stm

Ginny, check the above link in the mean time. I will eventually craft a
comment on the rest of your thoughts.

Cheers,
Momodou


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Från: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] För Ginny Quick
Skickat: den 15 augusti 2005 21:25
Till: [log in to unmask]
Ämne: Re: SV: SV: SV: Kanilai Cocktail - II

Hello, Momodou, I can understand the "lowering your gaze" mentality when
dealing with people of the opposite sex.  What I mean is, watching how
you
talk so as not to give the wrong impression, just to use one example.
And I
can understand the separation of men and women to a certain extent.  But
separating them on public transportation, this one I think is a little
extreme.

     Is this story you speak of published anywhere online, that I can
look
up?

      It's one thing if a place is going to use sharia law, but it would
be
nice if the people implementing it were educated islamically, and it
would
be another thing if people practiced mercy and love and tolerance, and
not
this hard-line-ish stuff we seem to see in most so-called Islamic
states.

     How is anyone supposed to think kindly of Islam and Muslims and
supposedly Islamic governments when all they see come out of them is
harshness and extremism?

     I don't think that 2 billion people is it? or 1/5 of the world's
population got to be Muslim through harshness.  And even if Islam may
have
been imposed on some people, even if that did happen in some instances,
I
don't think Islam, itself, was sustained through harshness and
puritanical
ideas.

     When you look at the vibrancy of art and literature and other
things,
throughout Islamic history, I don't think you would have had those
things if
you'd have had people like the Taliban as rulers.

     Just some thoughts.  BTW, I've also seen articles highlighting the
achievements of women scholars of Islam, however, if you were to go by
the
ideas of some men, who see themselves as revivers of Islam, or men of
knowledge or whatever, if these men would have had anything to say about
it,
women wouldn't have even been allowed to get an education, much less be
any
kind of a scholar of anything.

     And the funny thing about it is that if I understand Islam
correctly,
seeking knowledge is obligatory on * everyone *, isn't it?  I don't
recall
anything in the Quran saying that women are not allowed to gain
knowledge.

     However, some men who practice "hislam" have attached all of these
sorts of rules and regulations, disguised as Islam, but what are in
actuality, just ways for men to maintain the status quo, and stay in
power.

Just some thoughts.

Ginny

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