Islam - Religion of Intolerance

This Guardian article shows how difficult, if not impossible, it will be to reform Islam.

Indonesia's reputation as a bastion of moderate, tolerant Islam has been cast in doubt after the nation's ulemas council (MUI) issued 11 fatwas banning liberal Islamic thought, religious pluralism, inter-faith marriage, inter-faith prayers led by non-Muslims and women leading prayers attended by men.

At its national congress, which ended last Friday, the council also renewed a ban on Ahmadiyah, a group it views as deviant because it does not recognise Muhammad as being the last prophet.

And they claim Islam superior to all other religions.

Mr Ma'ruf said it was imperative Indonesian Muslims returned to Islam's core beliefs. "We cannot say that all religions are the same," he said. "That would be blasphemous. Of course, we recognise people's right to worship other religions, but we cannot consider them on the same level as Islam."

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