Mark said
...interestingly, the true "clash of cultures" is not between Islam and Christianity, which have proved that they can live together in peace (with Judaism also) during many historical periods
Yes. As Jonathan Meades nicely put it - they all three worship the same God; the argument is over who owns the franchise.
Interesting thread. I have a long standing interest in Islam and Sufi and have studied (in an amateur way and obviously in translation) the Qur'an as well as works like Attar's "Conference of the Birds".
One of the key concepts which seems to have been lost in modern Islam is the holiness of the search for knowledge, or Ilm. These days it very often seems to be ignorance that is being promoted.
One of my abiding beliefs is that the search for knowledge is not necessarily a search for answers (at least of the blinding light variety). In a way this is the message of Attar and possibly Sufi - the search is a holy and difficult one, but in the end you will see the answer was before you all the time. All the journey did was open your eyes.
I shall follow the rest of this debate with interest.
Philip
So called Western Science owes a great debt to Islam. Probably moreso than to the Greeks.
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