CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- The former dynamic leader of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, again made big waves, this time at his departing salvo. Most of the world's reactions focused on his remarks about Jews, but there were other interesting aspects in his comments regarding Islam that were perhaps overlooked.
Mahathir correctly argued that Islam is "a way of life" and that democracy is compatible with it. He further made a call -- valid in all religious teachings -- for Islam's followers to help themselves, and not rely on divine assistance and protection. Then he argued about the need to go back to the fundamentals, to the doctrine of the Prophet, and shed various modern misleading interpretations.
At first glance, all these points seem convincing. But problems of "interpretations" of old, fundamental revelations, have always been a subject of controversy. As Dutch Islamic scholar Carool Kersten argues, "for a religion to remain a "living tradition," continuous interpretation is a precondition. A plea for a return to Islam's roots does not solve anything: traditionalists, fundamentalists and liberal Muslims alike claim to be doing just that. Therefore, "pluralism" has to be "the benchmark for rating Islam's relevance in today's world."