Does the Muslim faith need a Reformation or is it okay as is?

Answer 1

That is an interesting question. I personally believe that any attempt at reformation must start on a solid foundation of reason. Since religion has, as its bedrock, irrational propositions, any attempt at reformation will just lead to trading one set of inane beliefs and practices, for another set of beliefs that are equally ridiculous and counterproductive.

Reformation movements, whether religious or secular, are guided by the foundational principles that helped form a certain group or tradition. If those axiomatic ideas are founded on reasonable notions, then using them as a reference point will only yield productive results. If those ideas, which were instrumental in the formation of an institution, are nonsensical, then the end result of any reformation effort will be negative, and not any better than the current predicament of that group.

I believe the respondent above had a good point. The Reformation movement, spearheaded by Luther, devolved from a well intended effort to make the Bible more accessible to the common man, and to root out corruption from the Church, to a movement that spawned innumerable divisions among nations and families – thus leading to more strife and more irrationality than when the entirety of Christendom was helmed under the Papacy. The persecutions that were sanctioned by the Pope, did not end with the Reformation, but instead became more pervasive, and more diverse. The brazen disdain for science and men of reason became more emboldened by the Reformation. Why did the Protestant Reformation degrade into greater villainy, corruption, irrationality, persecution, and sectarianism, than the Church that it was intended to reform. The reason for this is because the Reformation was guided by Biblical precepts, which are irrational, and have contained within them the greatest examples of schisms, bigotry, and abuse of power.

Now look at it from the opposite end of the spectrum. Our democracy has at times regressed into inhumane practices, most notably being the slave trade. Yet, the abolitionist movement, which can be seen as a reformation movement in the political sense, redeemed out democracy, making it more ethical than before. Why did this reformation movement work towards a good end instead of a bad one? The answer simply is because it referenced founding ideas to our democracy that emphasized the equality of men, and their inherit rights – in other words, good foundational ideas.

Again, the original principles of the movement are important, when assessing the potential for a POSITIVE reformation. So keeping this in mind, what is the overarching literature and authority that founded Islam, and what is referenced most to this day in the Islamic World? The answer to that question is the Qu’ran (Koran) and the Hadith.

It is that very book and the oral traditions ascribed to Muhammad that makes reformation in the Islamic world, towards a humane and positive end, almost impossible. These very founding ideas of Islam contain within them all the barbarism, misogyny, and militancy, that we know are endemic to the Muslim world. Any attempt at reforming the religion, will merely be confronted with this primitive nonsense, and such a movement will not be able to surmount this obstacle, so as to create a religion that is more moral, rational, and compatible with modernity.

Irashad Manji ,in her book “The Trouble With Islam”, tried her best to find a way to redeem the religion of her birth from within. Though I consider her efforts noble and valiant, I think fundamentally, her endeavors are acts of futility. What we need is not to reform the religion of Islam. We need to encourage people to leave it. Whatever is positive about the religion can be found more bountifully in other secular sources, and what is negative about the religion, is so inextricably linked with Islamic identity, that it will be almost impossible to root it out of the religion.


No, we do not need any more reformation in the Muslim world. What we need to do is marshal up the courage to say that humane and rational people need to leave the faith that Muhammad founded. We don’t take our excrement, and clean it in the hopes that it will be of use to us. We discard it with all of our other refuse, because it is not redeemable. The same thing must be done with mental excrement, or in other words, religion.

Answer 2

In the Reformation, the Protestants broke away from Catholic authority. This allowed the development of truly crazy Fundamentalist Christian religions, in a "holier than thou" race to the bottom. Whatever else you may say about the Pope, he acts as a check on the loonier aspects of Catholicism.

The Muslim faith could use a kind of "reverse Reformation", where the loonier religious leaders were held in check by some central authority that imposed rational norms on the interpretation of the religion.

Answer 3

Yeah, tell them they need a reformation, that will go over real well.

Answer 4

no, it's ok as is. It is the Muslims themselves that need reformation.

Answer 5

just okay,its the only true religion

Answer 6

Or, better yet, a Deformation!

Answer 7

Its okay as is....
















haterz all around!