27 Propositions for Reforming Islam

Malek Chebel, a renowned anthropologist focusing on the Arab world, is one of today’s prominent French-speaking North African(Algerian)intellectuals. In 2004, he established, in France, the Foundation for an Enlightened Islam. He has published some 20 books on Islam, in which he has frequently dealt with sensitive and uncommon subjects, such as love in Islam: He claims that Islam is a sensuous religion and condemns the strict fundamentalist approach to relations between men and women. He has also tackled such taboos as wine and homosexuality in Islam. His publications include a Love Dictionary of Islam (Plon, 2004) and an Encyclopaedia of Love in Islam (Payot, 1995). His other main focus is reform of Islam, to which he has dedicated two major books: Islam and Reason: The Struggle of Ideas (Perrin, 2005), and Manifesto for an Enlightened Islam (Hachette, 2004),writes the Director of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). In his Manifesto for an Enlightened Islam (Manifeste pour un islam des lumieres), Chebel puts forth 27 proposals for extensively reforming Islam. 1.A New Interpretation of the Koran 2.The Preeminence of Reason over All Other Forms of Thought and Beliefs 3.Society to Be Managed by Politics, Not Religion 4.Investing in Man 5.The Preeminence of the Individual over the Community 6.Freedom of Thought and Conscience Must Become a Muslim Virtue 7.Respect for the Other Specific Reforms 8.Declaring Jihad Useless and Obsolete 9.Abolishing All Fatwas Calling for Death 10.Promoting the Status of Women 11.Abolishing Corporal Punishment 12.Banning Genital Mutilation 13.Punishment for Honor Killings 14.Modernizing the Civil Law and the Personal Code 15.An Independent Judiciary 16.Free Access to Sounds and Images 17.Fighting the Phenomenon of Political Assassination in an effort to Promote Democracy 18.Eliminating the Cult of Personality in the Islamic World 19.Firm Sanctions against Corruption 20.Investing in the Field of World Administration 21.Banning of Slavery and All Other Trafficking in Human Beings 22.Promoting a Work Ethic 23.Ending Usury 24.An Active Policy Regarding New Technology 25.Defining a Clear Bioethics Policy 26.Protecting the Environment 27.Promoting Play He concluded that youth, civil society, and education were the Keys to Reforms.But he is blissfully unaware that there is no room for reforms in Islam.