I'm not entirely certain where the most appropriate place to post this is.

It's very much about Islam and written by a devout, very intellegent well know British Muslim.

But the subject is more about what is not Islam than is.

It is a really interesting perspective.

I should say that Yasmin Alibhai Brown is a well know British Journalist who tends to work for either the Independent of on various current affairs, TV programs. I have followed her for sometime and while I often find myself disagreeing with her, she is always respectful, and very intelligent.

This isn't a transgender story as such. It is a polemic, written by a good British Muslim for all to read and comment upon.

While I will, as I'm sure we all, hope that the vast majority of good Muslims can consider these points, I can't help but think they may be equally valid for many other groups.

I sincerely apologise if I have posted this in the wrong place.

Quote

Internal and external intolerance is now Islam's brand. Those great past Muslim civilisations famous for diversity, humanity, science, extraordinary achievements have died. Education, the arts, photographs, television, sports, even work are denounced by crazed imams online and in mosques worldwide, including the UK....................

Thoughtful and honest Muslims stay silent because they fear ostracisation or inciting more racism against Muslims – both real perils. But silence now is cowardly, and collusion with the corrupters of our faith. True believers have a duty to speak out against that corruption.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/how-did-modern-islam-become-so-intolerant-8508732.html?origin=internalSearch

Thanks for that.

It's not hard to see why once you look at the origins of the modern movements and then look back far enough into scholarly opinions on said authors and their works that started these movements. Just need to do a search on any criticism of Ibn Adl-Wahhab, it's abundant..

Unfortunately there is so much confusion in the world and it wasn't always the case.

I kind of blame the rise of ahadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) during the Golden Age of Islam.

Before, during the Islamic renaissance, the principle of ijtihad (or re-understanding Islamic principles in the Qur'an) was quite big at the time. I feel that it wasn't until they took the hadith (which are historically unverifiable) that Islam went downwards. Many of the hadith make the Prophet look superstitious and outdated. I do not think transsexualism-->-bleeped-<- and Islam are even mutually exclusive!

It's unfortunate that Islam has really changed since. I hope that it comes back to its former intellectually diverse state.

I heard the last half of this author interview on NPR on March 1, 2013. It was really interesting I though, it discusses the prophet, and Mohini's comment reminded me of it, because it does seem like the hadiths caused a lot of changes in the religion.

http://www.npr.org/2013/03/01/173244626/new-book-challenges-myths-of-the-first-muslim