Reformation and Islam

It is obvious Islam is undergoing a reformation of sorts, with ‘sorts’ being the key question under review. Nothing has changed in the text of the Koran, only its interpretation. The conflict between Shiite and Sunni Muslims now engulfs the rest of the world with collateral damage, daily rising to catastrophic proportions. Whether or not Netanyahu goes to congress or not, the fact remains that Shiite Iran is at war with Sunni Saudi Arabia. Despite all the conflict, Saudi Arabia has just reopened its embassy  in Tehran, notwithstanding the fact that Shiite Muslims have just toppled the government in neighboring Yemen, leaving the Saudis angry with Obama for his attempted rapprochement with Tehran! Sounds like a mess? It certainly is. the Saudis have reduced the price of oil to sabotage the sale of Iranian oil,  while IS is being funded by Qatar, and whatever oil they have seized from oil fields in Iraq, and can sell to Turkey.

How might this all turn out? Well, in my humble, it amounts to how many Muslims would rather live than die, instead of die than live. It is also obvious that lining up at the mosque to get your daily bread may be just as unworkable as depending on sheikhs and oligarchs to sustain a population of some 1.5 billion Muslims throughout the world, without producing anything but sand, oil and prayer.

At this crossroad lies the future of Islam. Either more blood and mass murder of counter-revolution in faith, or reasonable evolution into a world wherein Muslims evolve into a people and ideology that can live peacefully in this world, among their neighbors, and in good faith. The challenge here for Islam as a whole, is whether or not it can divest itself from a destructive ideology, and replace it with a peaceful, non-violent and progressive theology. Don’t hold your breath, these wars of attrition are the longest-lasting in history.