November 5, 2014In an essay published October 3, 2014 in the French newspaper Marianne, French Muslim philosopher Abdennour Bidar, author of Self Islam: A Personal History of Islam(Seuil, 2006); Islam without Submission: Muslim Existentialism (Albin Michel, 2008), and A History of Humanism in the West (Armand Colin, 2014), wrote that Muslims cannot make do with denouncing and repudiating terrorist barbarism, but must acknowledge that its roots lie within Muslim society, and especially within the Islam that is prevalent in the Arab world today. He points out that Islam, like all religions, has throughout its history been a source of much good, wisdom and enlightenment, but that today’s mainstream Islam rejects the freedom and flexibility that are advocated by the Koran and instead promotes rigidity and regression that ultimately give rise to terrorism. The Muslim world, he concludes, must therefore reform itself, and especially its education systems, based on principles of freedom of religion and thought, equality, and respect for the other.
The following are translated excerpts from his essay:
Abdennour Bidar (image: aujourdhui.ma)
"I See That You Are Losing Yourself And Your Dignity, And Wasting Your Time, In Your Refusal To Recognize That This Monster Is Born Of You"
