Reformation in Islam

By John Vashahi

Islam is the biggest problem of our time. Suicide bombing, promise of virgins in janat, establishing universal khalifa government, suppressing freedom, are all making headlines these days.

I was among the Muslims which thought we could have a reform in Islam, a moderate voice a renaissance, but as we understood Islam more, we found out reform is not going to work with Islam.

The problem was that we were under the effect of western secular writers’ version about what had happened in the renaissance in Europe. That version which is highly accepted even here in the west and it is very wrong, saying secular forces took a power from the church and send Christians home.

It looks like that some forces came under the name secular and disarmed Christianity. But in fact some thing else had happened, Christianity simply returned to its roots. Christian scholars and theologians understood what the real Christianity was and reformed the official wrong beliefs.

In the root of Christianity there was no Vatican earth centred, no power and no forced conversion. It was mercy and grace and kindness of the Lord Jesus. Scholars found out that in the heart of Christianity there are no crusades and all those superstitions.

But the problem with Islam was and is every time we went deeper and went back to the root of Islam we reached nothing just jihad and violence against women and many sharia laws that contradict all modern values.

There was separation of power from the beginning In Christianity, Caesar’s coin was for Caesar, and not like Islam which Mohammad according to all sources the first thing he did was establish a government.

There was some others who shaped the society along side a Christian during reformation, philosophers and writers, but we need to consider this important point that Christianity allowed them to grow up and publish their thoughts. Although they suffered difficulty Christianity did not wipe them out. These philosophers and writers were in reaction to the Christianity and because that western civilisation is based on Christianity. In other word if there was no Christianity there was no such reaction either, but In Islam non Muslim are non believers, no chance for them to grow up.

Nearly 30 years experience of the Islamic regime in Iran proves that democracy and modern values are not compatible with Islam. Islam with heavy sharia law which it got orders from birth to death and how to walk and how to sit and how to breathe, did not leave any space for any other law and development of dialogue culture.

All the evidence shows that reformation in Islam is just a dream. I urge Muslims, especially Arab Muslims, to consider the real water of life. Taste it and feed their hunger with bread of life. I invite them to following of Jesus based on my experience.