In the history of Islam there have been few real reformers of the religion. But in the XXth and XXIth century there are 2 who are outstanding. In an earlier article I had written of how Italy’s most famous Muslim intellectual, Magdi Allam, was a Muslim who was really for human rights. He later became a Christian. His story is here:
Mohamed Mahmoud Taha (1909-1985)
He was born in Sudan and was truly for human rights for all. He was a real patriot, who had graduated as an engineer:
1.Who was against British control of his country and for its independance.
2.He founded the Republican Brothers in 1945.It was for a secular state in Sudan,separation of mosque and state.He was against having Islamic-Sharia law in Sudan.
It was in opposition to the Muslim Brothers(also called the Muslim Brotherhood)which had been founded in 1928 in Egypt and was for Sharia Law in the whole Muslim world.
3.In 1985 he was hung for apostasy by the President of Sudan Gaafar Nimeiry,and also for being against Sharia Law.
The Theology of Mohamed Mahmoud Taha
First,about the Koran
The Koran has 114 chapters. Muhammad said the angel Gabriel appeared to him in a cave and for 2 years he kept it to himself and his wife and a few others. Then for 10 years he was publicly preaching his ideas in Mecca. The vast majority paid no attention, and he had only 100 converts in 10 years. The chapters that come from this period are called the Mecca Chapters. They are peaceful, tolerant, for harmony between all.
Later he fled to Medina and his messages from then till his death in 632 are called the Medina Chapters. They are violent, war-like, intolerant.
The Doctrine of Abrogation in the Koran
The Koran says that:
1.When you have 2 messages in the Koran about the same theme
2.And they contradict each other
3.Then the message that came later annuls, abrogates, eliminates the earlier message.
It is based of Two Koranic Passages
Chapter 2:106:
“Whatever verse we may annul or cause you to forget, we will bring a better one than it, or one like it; do you not know that God is mighty over all?”
Chapter 16:101:
“And whenever we change one verse for another, God knows best what He sends down. They say, ”Thou art but a forger!”No, most of them do not know.”
What Taha said about it All
He said that the Medina Chapters(the later ones)are to be ignored, that the Mecca Chapters(the earlier ones)are to take precedence. The Mecca Chapters are the real Islam and the Medina Chapters were only and only for a specific time in history. For that and for being against Islamic law he was hung. His religious ideas are in his famous book “The Second Message of Islam”.
Video on his Life on the 100th Anniversary of his Birth(17 minutes)
http://www.african.ohio.edu/Conferences/index.html
Hossein Khomeini (born 1958)
He is a fascinating figure who is the grandson of the Ayatollah Khomeini, he who in his ten year reign (1979-1989) killed 100,000 innocent people in the name of Islam Hossein Khomeini had participated in overthrowing the Shah in 1979 as a teenager and was for the Islamic revolution.
He is a religious leader and with the passage of time he has come to the conclusion that:
1.The Islamic revolution in Iran has been a complete failure: the result has been an evil society, massive violation of human rights.
2.The best thing is a complete separation of mosque and state, like in the West. There should be no execution of apostates, religion is a private affair. A secular state is the solution for Iran.
3.Things are so bad in Iran that he has several times publicly, clearly, without a doubt called for the US to invade Iran and depose the regime.
That does not mean he does not believe in Islam. He does and as a Shia he also believes in the coming of the 12th Imam. The 12th Imam will bring justice to the world and even a theocratic state but in the meantime the best state is a secular, non-religious one.
The Son of the Shah and the Grandson of the Ayatollah Khomeini united
United against the Iranian theocratic regime. Hossein Khomeini revealed in a 2006 interview to an Arab journal that he had secretly met with Reza Pahlavi, the Shah’s son. Pahlavi had written a manifesto against the regime in 2002 called “Winds of Change: The Future of Democracy in Iran“. He is simply one of the top leaders trying to overthrow the regime, having traveled all over the world getting support. That Hossein Khomeini had met him left all in Iran emotionally challenged. Reza Pahlavi’s website, where he says his ideas for Iran, is:
The 12th Imam
The Shias make up 10% of all Muslims or some 120 million.The great majority of Shias are Twelver Shias. They believe in the coming of the 12th Imam, also called the Mahdi, the ultimate savior of humanity.
There are Shias who accept another as the seventh imam and are called the Ismailites since they accept as the legitimate imam Ismail ibn Jafar (721-755) and not another, his brother, Abdullah al-Aftah, accepted by the Twelver Shias as the real imam.
The 12th Imam was a descendant of Muhammad, of the twelfth generation, called Muhammad ibn al-Hasan, born in Iraq in 869.When he was 5 or 6 or 7 he fell into a well and was never seen again. Twelver Shias believe he did not die but was hid by God (this is referred to as the Occultation) and will later emerge with Jesus to conquer the world for Islam and bring peace and justice to the world.
About the Mahdi
The Twelver Shias believe the 12th Imam is the Mahdi to come to conquer the world for Islam. The Sunnis (90% of Muslims) also believe in a Mahdi to come but not that he would be the 12th Imam. However they do believe he will be a descendant of Muhammad.
Read the Great Novel “The Twelfth Imam” (the first of a trilogy)by Joel Rosenberg
He is Jewish and a Christian who has written about Islam, Israel and Christianity. He wrote a novel in 2010 where the 12th Imam actually appears in Iran, doing miracles and convincing the Iranian leaders and the Sunni Muslims to start an apocalyptic confrontation with the West. For a Christian a false prophet, like the Mahdi, can do miracles with the help of the Devil. In the novel Iran has made several nuclear bombs. Read more about Joel Rosenberg here:
Here are Amazon’s 227 Reader Reviews of the Novel, almost all favorable
It has details about the actions of the various characters in the novel, about the 12th Imam, the president of Iran, about an Iranian-American spy in Iran, about a Iranian scientist who defects to the West, etc.
http://www.amazon.com/Twelfth-Imam-Joel-C-Rosenberg/product-reviews/141431163X/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
Interview of Hossein Khomeini in 2003 by the famous atheist Christopher Hitchens
Hitchens is a journalist, ex-Marxist, famous for his anti-religion book “god is Not Great”(2007).Here Hossein Khomeini calls for the US to overthrow the Iran theocracy:
http://www.slate.com/id/2089329/
Article from 2006 where Hossein Khomeini calls for US to overthrow the Anti-Human Rights Iran Government
Article 1 (The Telegraph):