Counter-Jihad

Not so long ago, I blogged about the kind of fatwa I had been waiting to see from the Islamic umma, one that made a religious ruling against AL Qaeda and their ilk. Apparntely this has been a popular move amongst Muslims aswell: "Moderate Muslims are increasingly turning to Islam's sacred core - the Quran and the laws and traditions it inspires - to defend their views and discredit radicals as part of a 'counter-jihad' for Islamic hearts and minds.
The long and painful silence of moderate theologians and experts in Islam jurisprudence - who had been bought off or intimidated into silence - is finally starting to break apart,' said Khaled Abou El Fadl, an authority on Islamic law at the University of California-Los Angeles. 'We are seeing signs of a counter-jihad.'"
Which is probably to the good. It will also be interesting to see how much force it has. Note also that the most part of the support seems to have come from outside of the Muslim heartlands, though it's unclear whetehr this is a theological issue or one of access to the news/reporting of the fatwa or what. It does seem to me though that the kind of conditions that were around in a precurser to the European reformation are here in the Umma: lot's of people with a sense of the inhumanity of traditional interpretations and a desire for a religious expression with more humanity. On the other hand the extreme islamist interpretations which inveigh against the corruption of the traditional authroities are being seen also as a protest which is too inhumane since they are not peaceful and involve the taking of innocent life. It remains to be seen whether this will be enough to kick-start the silent majority of Muslims into 'taking back their faith' and re-examinining its foundations.
Islam :: Muslims cheer clerics' attack on al-Qaeda: