instructions to muslims regarding christians and j, page-8

re: rabbitoh -instructions to muslims fallguy Islam has gone through enlightenment as well as fundamentalist eras - as has Christianity. Would you judge Christianity by the Inquisition?

The father of radical Islam was Ibn Taymiya (1263-1328). Like Judaism, Islam is a religion of laws and traditions. Islam has four legal philosophies, called "schools." The most conservative and extremist in its strict adherence to Islamic sunna, or tradition, is the Hanbali school, to which Ibn Taymiya belonged. The Hanbali school of Islamic law is the most puritanical, resistant to influences or modernization of Islam. Hanbalis wanted a return to the Islam that had been practiced in the seventh century by Muhammed and his early followers. It points to the actions of the first four leaders that succeeded Muhammed, called the four right-minded caliphs (successors), as the proper Islamic form of rule.

Ibn Taymiya lived in Damascus after the Mongol invasions. In his sermons and writings Ibn Taymiya criticized the Islam of his day - the popular mystical Sufi movement with its worship of saints and prophets - and set forth a program of reform that advocated a strict return to the early days of Islam. He sought to eliminate from 13th century Islam any changes that might have been incorporated into the religion as a result of historic transformation.

Although he was not as stringent as some others of his theological school, Ibn Taymiya's teachings were too challenging to the political leadership, and he died in prison in 1328. His followers kept alive his teachings, and his legacy inspired later radical Islamic leaders of the Hanbali school.