Islamic seminary in US to bridge religion-culture gulf

• LazerLordz

  28 Jun 06, 11:40

  Islamic seminary in US to bridge religion-culture gulf
  
  Jun 28, 2006
  The Straits Times
  EVERY seat in the auditorium at the University of Houston was taken. The two American-Muslims onstage spoke in Arabic, with flawless accents.
  
  Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, 48, and Imam Zaid Shakir, 50, are converts to Islam and had spent years in the Middle East and West Africa.
  
  The two men are creating the first Islamic seminary in the United States where they hope to train a new generation of imams and scholars who can reconcile Islam and American culture. The California seminary, called the Zaytuna Institute, is in its fledgling stages.
  
  Sheikh Yusuf believes that if more Muslims were schooled in Islam's diverse intellectual streams and had a holistic understanding of it, they would not be so susceptible to the message that suicide bombers are martyrs.
  
  Though the two do not denounce any particular school of thought, their students say they are challenging the sometimes intolerant influence of sects such as Wahhabism and Salafism.
  
  Sheikh Yusuf and Imam Shakir teach that Islam is open to a diversity of interpretations and to beware of 'fanatics' who pluck Islamic scripture out of context and say: We are going to tell you what God says on every issue.
  
  'That's not Islam,' Sheikh Yusuf says. 'That is psychopathy.'
  
  Hundreds of Muslims come to Zaytuna for classes on Prophet Muhammad, the Quran and the Arabic language. There is also a female scholar who teaches only women. -- NEW YORK TIMES
• Atobe

  28 Jun 06, 12:12

  
  One rides a horse, the other rides a camel.
  
  One believes in Christianity, the other in Islam.
  
  Can a red neck, beef eating cowboy understand the mild mannered ways of a mutton eating shepherd ?
  
  Can a clash of culture and civilization be avoided, when the larger part of the population on each side is suspicious of the other ?
  
  Can the vanity of Man's self-centered mind place the teachings of Jesus to reconcile with that of Mohammed the Prophet ?
  
  If this Islamic seminary is not another institution that is discreetly disguised to propagate the religion itself in a foreign land, whose hospitality and openess to such an event is not reciprocated in its land of origin, can such a venture succeed ?
  
  Can the Arab World of Islam reciprocate by allowing a Christian seminary to spread its teachings so as to allow more Arabs to understand and learn of a religion adopted by the Western World of Caucasians ?
  
  Is understanding and tolerance expected to be a one-way street only ?
  
  
  
• LazerLordz

  28 Jun 06, 13:17

  Originally posted by Atobe:

  
  One rides a horse, the other rides a camel.
  
  One believes in Christianity, the other in Islam.
  
  Can a red neck, beef eating cowboy understand the mild mannered ways of a mutton eating shepherd ?
  
  Can a clash of culture and civilization be avoided, when the larger part of the population on each side is suspicious of the other ?
  
  Can the vanity of Man's self-centered mind place the teachings of Jesus to reconcile with that of Mohammed the Prophet ?
  
  If this Islamic seminary is not another institution that is discreetly disguised to propagate the religion itself in a foreign land, whose hospitality and openess to such an event is not reciprocated in its land of origin, can such a venture succeed ?
  
  Can the Arab World of Islam reciprocate by allowing a Christian seminary to spread its teachings so as to allow more Arabs to understand and learn of a religion adopted by the Western World of Caucasians ?
  
  Is understanding and tolerance expected to be a one-way street only ?
  
  
  

  that seminary's main aim is to produce intellectual Islamic scholars who are diverse in their views.
• Atobe

  28 Jun 06, 15:42

  Originally posted by LazerLordz:

  that seminary's main aim is to produce intellectual Islamic scholars who are diverse in their views.

  My apologies for being ignorant, but where would the production of intellectual Islamic scholars be developed from ?
  
  Will these scholars be from the Arab community - coming from the Middle East, or will such scholars be developed by converting the Caucasian or Hispanic Communities in the US ?
  
  If intellectual development of Islamic scholars are good for their diverse views, it should also be good for the entire Islamic Community, and by extension the hospitality of the West should be reciprocated by the Islamic Community - in hosting a similar facility from alternative religions to be accomodated within their country or countries.
  
  The Fifth Column Concept was developed not without basis.