Just last Wednesday I wrote about a jihad manual in Thailand that was being reported as a book of “distorted” Islamic beliefs. It could be seen as false, said a news story, by anyone with a “deep knowledge” of Islam. I wrote: “But where, o where, is this deep knowledge of Islam that will refute the radicals? Virtually every analysis I’ve seen from self-proclaimed moderates is superficial and doesn’t confront radical exegesis of the Qur’an and Sunnah at all.”
But now, Thai Muslims are working on a refutation of this same jihad manual. It will be very interesting to see if it really does the job — and if so, it should be translated into every language on earth. But I still doubt that it will convincingly refute the radicals’ understanding of Islam, primarily because this has not yet been convincingly done by Muslims elsewhere. Nonetheless, I’ll be watching this closely.
Vientiane, Laos, Jun. 13 (UPI) — Thai Muslims are producing a booklet to counter distortions of their faith by extremist rebels, the Bangkok Post reported. …
Phithakkumpol said the project was in response to a book entitled “Ber Jihad Di Pattani” that had been found on the bodies of slain Islamist extremist rebels in the Pattani region of southern Thailand. Some 611 sayings of the Koran had been distorted in the book and it was important to correct them, he said.