Word: islam
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...true identity. One chain e-mail claims that the Antichrist was prophesied to be "A man in his 40s of MUSLIM descent," which would indeed sound ominous if not for the fact that the Book of Revelation was written at least 400 years before the birth of Islam...
...best immunity, says Toufiq, is to revive the kinder, gentler form of Sufi Islam that spread through North Africa and Spain between the 9th and 13th centuries, a golden age known for its art, philosophy and tolerance. This is the kind of Islam that Toufiq is trying to recreate in the training schools for women guides and male imams. Not only the Koran is taught - so, too, are Greek philosophy, Christianity and Judaism...
...This Islam stands in direct contrast to the puritanical version preached by today's jihadis. Says Toufiq: "These extremists say we're infidels because we don't pray correctly - even if I'm a Muslim and I believe in Allah and his Prophet Muhammad. We didn't think these people existed here until they started blowing things...
...everyone is buying the move to moderation. The most credible critic of the regime is a fashionably attired woman who covers her hair, Islamic-style, with a Parisian silk scarf. Nadia Yassine leads the Justice and Spirituality Movement, a nonviolent organization with more than 35,000 members and many more sympathizers. She scoffs at the government's efforts to combat religious radicalism by standardizing Koranic teaching and sending female guides into the slums: "This is Islam Lite. It's like throwing powder in our eyes to distract us." She argues that "real changes" are impossible without improving Morocco's level...
...similar remarks during the reign of the last King, he was incarcerated in an insane asylum, and she concedes that political freedom has improved under Mohammed VI. Nadia Yassine also welcomes the fact that women are now allowed to conduct religious activities. "We need to restore a version of Islam that has less machismo," she says. After all, such efforts to bolster a gentler, more moderate form of Islam may stop Morocco turning into Iraq once Hollywood's cameras stop rolling...