[MD] Muslim Mechanisms

[skutvik at online.no]

Khaled, John, Craig and all who are interested in this issue. 

27 Jan. Khaled wrote: (I take the liberty to compress it)

>  Oh, where to begin. I left Beirut in 1978, right in the middle of the
> civil war. I have been back 5 times since then. On my visit in 1993 I
> was rather surprised at the 'religious comeback', evident with the fist
> thing you see, the head cover. As a kid, late 1960, we used to see the
> tourists from the Arabian peninsula with the ladies covered up in
> black. It was a bit of a cultural shock for us in Beirut and used to
> poke fun a them. When my grandmother used to wear a head scarf, well it
> was a beautiful, colorful cover. imagine Grace Kelly going for a ride
> in a convertible in Monaco. No joking. The head covers were the export
> of the Iranian revolution. Also, the higher people are on the
> socioeconomic ladder, the less likely they are to cover up. In some
> cases it becomes a political statement, as is the case in France now. I
> am hoping that all that will pass away. As for the rest of the
> religious-political unrest, religion has been hijacked to fight
> political causes..... snip

Great story. I understand that you prefer the political/ 
economical/sociological (i.e. intellectual) explanatory model, but we 
discuss the MOQ here I'd like to apply it (as I see it)  As your story 
shows there is no monolith "Islam" Beirut and example of this diversity, 
yet as John pointed to, deep down in the muslim heart there is the 
dream of an "Umma" (a world-wide religious empire) united under the 
Sharia law and to this idea, the Western secular/faith schism  (with a 
civil law that the religion must obey) is the great Satan, and my 
contention is that the present "islamist" movement - inspired by 
Sayyed Qutb's "Muslim Brotherhood" - is about preventing this 
Western value from polluting the holy unity.  

I have a long MOQ-based explanation ready, but this far, what do you 
say?

Bodvar