This thread is about Muslims and Islam adapting to life in a globally connected 21st century world. As the originator of this thread, I insist that other threads be used to argue the contention that any such adaptations represent critical departures from the essence of Islam and should be somehow discounted or ignored. Whether that viewpoint is valid or legitimate or not is not a topic for this thread. Posts violating this standard will be moved, not deleted.

In this thread, I'm interested in developments like this:

A couple of days ago, Stewart had a guest on The Daily Show, talking about how the key to dragging Muslim society into the 21st century was in developing a middle class that is financially vested in the global economy (as opposed to a middle class that is primarily dependent upon their own government). The interview and presentation left something to be desired, but the core idea struck me as worthy of exploration.

Here's that episode of The Daily Show. Skip ahead to the third segment to get right to the interview.

I'm not sure what the status of Muslim women regarding swimming at the beach was before such "solutions" but this solution doesn't impress me much. It reminds me of the Islamic Bank solution.



It seems like one of those things that people eventually find a way around so that the end result is the same, except with a number of useless and sometimes unnecessarily burdensome religious regulations.

What do strict Islamic men wear to the beach? Maybe if they wore blindfolds, to avoid "temptation", women could enjoy the beach too.

Perfect!

Another thing is separate beaches for women. Women can wear bikini's, breast feed their children, anything they want there.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=27436

Though no one likely wants to hear from me on such a topic, it doesn't work like that. Within "strict [Islam]", temptation for men is essentially to be made idiot proof by women, which is why women are generally always covered. There is very little sense of men needing to restrain themselves and their thoughts toward women. Instead, the responsibility is placed on the woman to never compromise any men. So for example, she must dress a certain way, act a certain way, and never be alone with a man or men when she is not in the company of a male relative or her husband. Male relatives, even young children are often considered superiors to the women in the family, especially if out in public. So you might see a 12 year old boy telling his mother and grandmother when and with whom they can speak when out in public. This is obviously not always the way it is and there are variations on this theme that will look somewhat different from region to region and country to country. For example, in some countries, showing so much of the face would be very problematic. And I've seen Muslim garb that allows them to show their forearms, which in some reagions of the world would be considered dressing like a prostitute. But for those who really attempt to practice Islam, women bear the burden of making temptation for men all but impossible. Having said that, the vast majority of professing Muslims in America would not behave this way, though old habits sometimes die hard.

In His Grip,

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