Thursday, November 11, 2010

Independent Study Period

I am currently on the final portion of my study abroad program entitled ISP... or Independent Study Period. So, I'm living in Muscat making an attempt to care of every day as the dying embers of a warming fire that will inevitably fade in the morning. I have exactly four weeks to the day until I will set foot on US soil. Home. Comfort. I'm sighting that day over the horizon like land to Ulysses. My journey is closing, but not over. Nowhere near over. This month I will start a research project that I hope will take me further into related studies for the rest of my academic career. I have been approved by the Omani Human Studies review board to engage a study concerning Oman and 'Moderate Islam'.   Radical Muslims offer an explanation of global politics and recent history that glorifies Islam victimizes and privileges the Muslim tradition and is most often consistent with a simplistic view of reality. Thus, radical Muslims often preach a hatred for American foreign policy and for American values in general as well as anyone, Muslim or non-Muslim who would seek to refute their narrow belief system. I want to prove that a moderate and liberal form of Islam exists in the world, specifically in Oman. The Western political tradition has a tendency to paint with a broad brush and group radical and moderate Islam into the same discipline. While I do believe that only one Islam exists in the world, certain people go about preaching this belief in different ways. I have developed a definition of what I believe constitutes a moderate Muslim. Above all, moderate Muslims cherish freedom of thought while recognizing the existential necessity of faith.  They are progressive in the sense that they see a need to distinguish between divine laws and principles…and human interpretations, between regulations concerning worship or duties to God (‘ibadat) that cannot change…and social regulations (mu’amalat) that can be changed. Moderates shun literalism and selectivism in the understanding of sacred texts. They reject the notion that any one group can have a monopoly on defining a “correct” Islam. A moderate Muslim does not reject the validity of other faiths.
                  A have four weeks to compile a literature review and interview at least 12 local experts on my topic. Time is of the essence. 

2 comments:

  1. It will be interesting to see if your hypothesis is correct. Better get busy! DA

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  2. don't you dare let that fire burn out boy. you know who's coming to see you if you do. HIS NAME IS _ _ _

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