Quote:
Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
I think I would have enjoyed discussing Islam with you before 9/11, as I can talk about it with near-infinite patience, and your analytic strengths would have been fun to see applied to its history when neither of us had an axe to grind.
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Well, FWIW, my thoughts and impressions far pre-date 9/11, coming from such sources as Hoodbhoy's early 1990's works (
here's a small segment of a very good book, BTW, which I owned long before 9/11), and readings on the unfortunately short-lived history of the Mutazilites, who WERE the Golden Age, being willing as they were to push and ignore the allowable envelope until more traditional clerical thought reasserted itself - leading to my "in spite of" comment.)
Contrary to your apparent view, a discussion of how Islam might not foster intellectual investigation can consist of more than "the effin' savages are stoopid, kill 'em all", but it ain't gonna get past that. If nothing else, 9/11 introduced a whole new theme in the defense of Islam.
