Join them, of course.

In the interest of fairness, I’m prepared to put my doubts about “Neocon American Trolls Muslims Against Sharia” on hold.

Now, I personally think that many aspects of Islam as described in the Qur’an, the Sunna, and classical fiqh are out of touch with modernity. Like the Old Testament (which condones slavery, extermination of enemies of Israel, stoning, and other unpleasant practices) and the Hindu caste system (still very much part of the culture of millions), there are aspects of traditional Islam that no longer reflect the world we live in.

The thing about religion, though, is that most adherents think their holy teachings were either dictated or inspired by God, which makes one undertstandably a bit hesitant about editing them. When the divine teachings get too embarassingly out of touch with reality, the faithful have adopted various strategies.
- They can simply ignore them.
- They can announce that the teaching wasn’t really from God, but from someone else who snuck it in.
- They can announce that it’s actually methaphorical, or allegorical, or anagogical, and not meant to be for real.
- They can announce that it’s been “misinterpreted”.

Or, of course, like Islamists, the Hindu BJP or the Reverend Phelps, they can just go ahead and continue to live in the caves.

But Muslims Against Sharia is cutting right to the chase. They’re inviting the world to edit the Koran to remove anything that anyone finds offensive. Anyone at all. You don’t have to be a scholar or a cleric. Heck, as far as I can tell, you don’t even have to be Muslim to help edit the sacred texts. Just jump in and start chopping.

Well, that makes perfect sense to me. Others might think it a clumsy, obvious, theatrical attempt to troll up a bit of cheap controversy (you know, an Ezra kinda stunt): but I personally can’t imagine anybody getting annoyed at the notion of anonymous bloggers mutilating the words of their God. Yeah, that’ll work.

But I’d like to contribute more than just my editing expertise. I’d like to join this wonderful organization and find out a bit more about who they are, and really assist them in the job of helping bridge the gaps that separate us.

And as it happens, I have two Muslim friends who are interested too. One holds a doctorate in biology and is a senior manager at Health Canada. The other is a practicing nurse, a lifelong Ismaili, and a long standing volunteer with the Aga Khan institute. We discussed this whole episode last night, and all three of us are very interested in becoming members of “Muslims Against Sharia”.

I have requested membership information on the MAS website on behalf of all three of us, and I will keep you all apprised of our progress. Meanwhile, you might want to request membership information on your own behalf.

After all, this is an organization that’s willing to take your money (without being too clear about what they want to use it for) - I’m sure they’ll be equally appreciative of your volunteer commitment.

Let me know how YOUR membership application goes.

UPDATE 1:

Hmm. They have comment moderation on at their site, and my request for membership information hasn’t made it through yet. I’ll keep you posted. By the way, MAS, if you’re reading this, you could just reply here. What are your membership requirements and criteria, and how does one join?

UPDATE 2:
They’ve responded on their site with the following:

If you are a Muslim who supports our goals, please send your request to mash5@reformislam.org for further instructions. If you are not a Muslim, but would like to help us, you can become our blog contributor. Please send an email to info@reformislam.org and put “BLOG ACCESS” in the subject

Excellent. I shall request blog access immediately (since I’m definitely against violence and terrorism and all that bad stuff), and I shall pass along the membership information to my Muslim friends. Anyone want to join me in requesting Blog Access?