Posted on 03/20/2008 8:08:03 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Saudi Arabia is to retrain its 40,000 prayer leaders - also known as imams - in an effort to counter militant Islam. Details of the plan were revealed in the influential Saudi newspaper Al- Sharq al-Awsat.
The plan is part of a wider programme launched by the Saudi monarch a few years ago to encourage moderation and tolerance in Saudi society.
The ministry of religious affairs and new centre for national dialogue will carry out the training, the paper said.
The centre was created five years ago to disseminate a moderate interpretation of Islamic tradition.
There is growing awareness in Saudi society that security measures alone are not enough to counter the threat of Islamic militancy.
Scepticism
Saudi clerics have long been accused of encouraging Saudi youth to join global jihad and of inciting hatred of non-Muslims.
Nearly 1,000 imams have already been sacked over the past few years.
The Saudi royal family has come under increasing pressure - mainly from Washington - to change religious textbooks and to rein in militant clerics.
But critics are sceptical about whether such initiatives would work as long as the powerful, and ultraconservative, religious establishment in Saudi Arabia continues to exert enormous influence over society.
Only last week, a prominent cleric called for the beheading of two liberal writers who had questioned the orthodox view that Muslims can not change their religion.
“in an effort to counter militant Islam” they’re going to be retrained in wahhabism — oh, wait...
and they've all gone to europe and set up terror cells whilst 'fleecing the flock' and living on welfare... because that's what imams do, imams don't work!
I believe the Saudi King is more intent on business than jihad. The problem is his populace is heavily tilted toward the Wahbbi sect of Islam, one of the most anti-US sects there are.
If the King were to overplay his hand, the kingdom would be in jeopardy.
I see a lot of talk about taking Saudi Arabia to task, and I would love to see it moderate, but after seeing what took place in Iran in 1978, I’m not willing to watch the Saudi government push change ‘at any price’.
We need to be quite careful what we advocate for Saudi Arabia. We may get what we want short term, only to pay for fifty years if it isn’t done right.
Us “whiteys” are just now finding out what has been going on in black churches, just imagine what is going on in mosques...
Gotta get them a more "productive" outlet that will not harm Al Swine or the KSA.
From the book Riyad-us-Saliheen:
“866. Abu Hurairah reported: The Messenger of Allah said, ‘Do not greet the Jews and the Christians before they greet you; and when you meet any one of them on the road, force him to go to the narrowest part of it’. [Muslim] “
LOL!
True. But I see no indication they are retraining American Imans. Only the ones that are bothering the Saudi royal family. The American Imans are, after all, leading the radicalization of demographic Jihad.
I know that this whitey was amazed to see what was going on in some black churches. Certainly explains much of the animosity between the races. I certainly hope that this is not happening in most black churches.
I do not even want to imagine what is going on in the mosques.
Won't work, unless they cut off each of those thousand heads and throw them into a thousand sacks. Since they all had that meeting to come up with a plan to deal with the Islamists in their own countries, I've been trying to figure out how they expect to achieve their goals. It would be nice if they COULD...but the Saudi royals have to change their own attitudes, too. Real change has to start at the top with the leaders. That's why they're CALLED leaders.
Those are probably the thousand they "sacked".
Yep. I remember the "Don't Stop the War in Iraq" thing where hundreds of terrorists stood in from of the window of the Saudi ambassador to Britain, silently reminding him and the rest of his government that al Qaeda promised to overthrow them for dealing with the Great Satan. I could have sworn I saved the photograph but can't find it. And when I looked on the web, it looks like it got expunged along with kalifah.com, the terrorist site that organized that little show.
I don’t recall seeing it, but that sounds about right.
Thanks for the response.
“Retrain”? Phfffffffffffffft.
Might as well disappear them before they behead you.
Gee, ya think if ya have to “retrain” 40,000 clerics it may not be the clerics but it might in fact be that 1400 year old Arabic murder-manual you believe in?
“Gee, ya think if ya have to “retrain” 40,000 clerics it may not be the clerics but it might in fact be that 1400 year old Arabic murder-manual you believe in?”
So lets see ...
They are saying they are trying to retrain the clerics that it is not a “murder manual” and you ( presumably an infidel ) are trying to persuade them it is ?
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