The Many Forms of Reform from Within

I've long supported reform within Islam. An "enlightenment" that would advance the collective perception of the value of the individual would serve all Muslims well, I believe.

Much has been written about grassroots efforts that pre-date 9/11 (and hence cannot be attributed to Wolfowitz's plan), and the New York Times is running a two-part series about players in such an effort in Saudi Arabia, of all places, which is worth reading. But I was actually quite surprised when I read that the Afghanistan film "Osama" (which I saw last night and highly recommend, although I was nearly spitting at the screen, it made me so angry), was funded in large part by Iran's Ministry of Culture.

This is surprising (to me at least) because the film is quite critical of the extremism that the Taliban represented and that I had assumed Iran was not far behind in. There are strong feminist speeches in it, and blunt denouncements of the Taliban that transcend religious arguments. It may be a bit of a leap to suggest this falls under the category of reform from within, but it's very encouraging none the less.

Comments

[Jesurgislac]

Nope - Saudi Arabia was an enthusiastic supporter of the Taliban, from a safe, religiously-fundamentalist distance, but Iran had a nice long border with Afghanistan. Iran had more Afghan refugees than any other country in the world - yes, including Pakistan. Iran's government are not quite as religiously-controlled as Saudi Arabia's government (more democracy tends to mean less religious fundamentalism, a fact obscured in US media by American support for Saudi Arabia). In short, while the Saudis got starry-eyed and idealistic about the kind of Islamic government the Taliban were carrying out in Afghanistan, Iran knew, close up and personal, that it was a fcuking bad idea.

[spc67]

Read both the NYT Magazine piece and saw Osama. I choose to look at both as hopeful signs. But the reform has gotta come quick, or else a great deal of blood will be spilled.

[Edward]

Jesurgislac,

Thanks for the details. I still think the strength of some of the messages in "Osama" makes the film more "progressive" than I credited Iran for being...it makes me wonder if they saw the script before funding the film.

[wilfred]

Read the article and saw "Osama". Liked the article and thought the film needed character development to be more effective. As it's nearer and dearer to me, i'm more interested in reform within Christianity as fundamentalists from this religion have taken over my government. They are even willing to touch the most honored document of my country in order to discriminate against me based on their literal interpretation of the Bible, but dismiss so many other parts of that book that don't suit their needs.

[Edward]

thought the film needed character development to be more effective.

would agree in general...but they were amatuers...found the scene where the boys are chasing the girl around the courtyard hard to watch.

i'm more interested in reform within Christianity as fundamentalists from this religion have taken over my government.

Yeah, there's a bill coming due to Bush from his religious right base, and if he thinks he's payed it with the FMA, he's not listening very closely.

[wilfred]

if you found that scene hard to watch, can't imagine what you thought of the ending! creepiness to the max.

[Edward]

if you found that scene hard to watch, can't imagine what you thought of the ending!

Had been warned about that scene, and had emotionally shut down before it, but yes, it was beyond creepy.

[praktike]

maybe it's a sunni/shiite thing.

[Jesurgislac]

I still think the strength of some of the messages in "Osama" makes the film more "progressive" than I credited Iran for being...it makes me wonder if they saw the script before funding the film.

Don't know. I haven't seen the film yet, either, so I can't comment on that.