It appears that a growing number of Islamic leaders are awakening to the fact that they've got a really negative image thing going on - not only within the world at large, but also within their own communities. The association of poverty and violence seems not to have escaped them, and in a recent meeting in Kuala Lumpur, most speakers emphasized the need to emphasize trade and prosperity; noting that they need to make sure that their young people can find jobs, and stressing the need for enhanced education as an engine of job creation.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia, the host of the gathering, said Muslims needed to steer their populations toward the "idea of work as worship."
"We must break the shackles of rigidity and dogma that currently envelop Islam," he said, restating the theme that underlies his policies in Malaysia. "We must go beyond rituals and ceremonies."
How much of this is rhetoric and how much is an actual call to action remains to be seen, but this is a move unprecedented in Muslim cultures over the past one thousand years or so. Keep an eye on this trend, if trend it be.
