No analysis of religious texts is permitted

At the Focus Marketing office in Kuwait, a law office sat on the 9th floor. I often met a senior Egyptian lawyer who worked there in the elevator. He had a welcoming face, and we became friends. Over lunch, which we shared a few times at a restaurant opposite our offices, I once asked him whether Arabs admit that the Christian West is much more advanced technologically and that our countries are not capable of exporting a single bicycle that works, let alone an aircraft?

I added that something must be wrong when South Korea, with a GDP lower than Egypt's, came from the brink of famine 40 or 50 years ago to become a significantly developed, prosperous country, while Egypt was increasingly becoming a basket-case! I asked him:

"In the West, it is claimed that Islam is behind this never-ending misery! For we see the same desolation across the non-oil-rich Muslim world. Is it possible to attribute such things to a great religion?"

"It is not Islam! It is the Imams we see on TV every day who misinterpret religion. The rulers pay their salaries! Their role is to convince people that justice and reward will be realized in Heaven, while the rulers are having a good time on this earth! Also, they must obey the rulers to avoid dissension."

Half an hour after our conversation, this lawyer, who had studied in America, called me:

"Please don't mention that we ever had this discussion, and don't write my name in your project book."

When I mentioned this scene to Waleed, the free-minded Syrian employee at Focus Marketing, without giving specific names, he said:

"It is fear; we Muslims are afraid to analyze our religion!" He added:

"I would not discuss religious matters with the close group of university students or neighbours with whom I used to hang out in Aleppo. They would shun me and tell each other not to talk to me anymore! ‘Al Moujadalah' (arguing) on anything outside the Sharia or to express any doubt is forbidden in Islam."

Dr. Hashem Saleh is a writer specializing in religious reform. He stated: "Arab intellectuals cannot debate or apply the historical-scientific method to traditional Islamic texts due to pressure from fundamentalists. It was in America, England and France that these Muslim intellectuals composed their major works on Islam. And to study Islamic texts scientifically, they are forced into exile for fear of being killed." He concluded: "We are not even allowed to translate their books in Muslim countries."

When I discussed this matter with Hervé, he remarked:

"The Imams answer even before the question is asked. They believe that Islam has the universal key."