Assalaamu Alaikum! Bismillah! YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE WAY THE PROPHET MOHAMMED(SAWS)TOLD MUSLIMS HOW TO LIVE AND GOVERN THEMSELVES. No muslim in his right mind would dare question the sharia over modern or should I say cosmo, new mileninum style thinking. Whatever you chose to identify this new innovation to Islam. Definitely is not good when you hear so-called learned men in the deen speaking of accepting democracy and its various forms over an Islamic political system. Are these men Hafiz of Quran? I would question their tafsir. Just who are they quoting Bush, or some White House senator's doctrine maybe. Certainly not the Quran and the Sunnah. What Hadith are these people coming from. How can they come close to accepting anything other than Islam? What you brothers should be talking about is a sopsticated army equipped to show them who is really fighting for the cause of Allah subnawataAllah. Forget your nafs is what they should be telling muslims, and pay the Zakat. In other words Your Friend is Allah and the believers who observe prayer and pay the Zakat and worship Allah Alone. Ameen African American sister in the USA Are you saying the Prophet Muhammah SAWS was to radical?
- By: Umm Dawud on December 16, 2003

The era of religion is finished and after having lived in Iran for 14 years I really cannot say that the shiisme is more flexible than any other casts of Islam. In that case I woulden't have to hide that i do not belong to shissme in front of my neighbours.
- By: Orkideh on December 9, 2003

The era of religion is finished and after having lived in Iran for 14 years I really cannot say that the shiisme is more flexible than any other casts of Islam. In that case I woulden't have to hide that i do not belong to shissme in front of my neighbours.
- By: Orkideh on December 9, 2003

Holder, exactly what I've been saying. Well, I think more of Khatami than Khameini, but that's me.
- By: Josh Narins on November 25, 2003

The problem of Islamic fanaticism has root in the history of these countries and cannot be vanished by simply promoting Shiite over Wahabism or vice versa or by any other short-cut means rather. People in all these countries except Iran need to experience a full theocratic government before realizing that it is not a good solution. Even in Iran that has had that experience, oposition of people with the religious leaders is somehow superficial. Europe had the same problem and it took 400 years to solve it. Now, the time has changed but it still takes time to do the same thing in the middle east.
- By: Daneshjoo on November 21, 2003

Hoder, Interesting observations. I noted this article in Iraq-today.com Sistani: Clerics must remain outside politics By Zaid H. Fahm - 17/11/2003 NAJAF - Some seven months since the fall of the regime, the elusive Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani remains adamantly against the involvement of Muslim religious leaders in Iraq's politics and political institutions, but still advocates the elections of a constitutional convention. In a rare communication with the press, Sistani outlined his thoughts on the new Iraq to Iraq Today, conveying his concerns and hopes for Muslims in Iraq. Sistani has long argued that the men of religion must advise people in their daily lives and concerns and open their mind to dangers matters of consciences they may face if they were to veer from Islam or religion in general. But, he said, religious men must give Muslims the chance to decide for themselves what is best for them. Men of religion should not order people or using them for their own sake and interests, because if they do they will lose the basic sense of being religious men... **** As a westerner, I was surprised to read this since we've been led to think the Muslim "position" is that government should be controlled by clerics. Your comments indicate that Sistani's position is advocated by other Shiite clerics as well. As to how to "show the world how the most radical regime in the Muslim world, Khomeini's Iran, which rejected the whole Western world, were defeated by it's own people." How do you envision this coming about? Is it possible for your country to be revolutionized "peacefully"? Or will "violence" be required? Ishtar, West Virginia, USA
- By: Ishtar on November 21, 2003