Analyst's note:  Absolutely must read.  I wish to point out an element not discussed in this article.  This war of ideas required to reform Islam is not going to be easy nor fast in reversing decades of cultural invasion into the West by the "Wahhabi Lobby" of Saudi Arabia with their economic and political powers funded by oil money.  They have for decades, with the help of the Muslim Brotherhood, poisoned our academia factory and thus devastated the streams and blurred our national understanding.   From the factory of academia, the Islamist jihadists have reached our media, government, foreign policy, and yes even some in our warrior society of the U.S. military.

A key to ultimately implementing the change being reported here by Dr. Hamid in the foundational issues driving the Islamist mindset, is for Islam and all the well trained apologist to make a clear distinction between the religion of Islam and ideology.  This distinction must be examined in terms of what is permissible and acceptable in the rest of the world.  It may require many more Western students to learn Arabic, Farsi, Pashto, and other languages in order to gain access to primary materials. 

Once the West comes to understand that the Islamist beliefs represent a religion wrapped in ideology, governments and societies can help in implementing the reforms that must challenge the old teachings materials, investigate grants from Wahhabi and Khumeinist regimes, and expose the habitual failures to provide balanced instruction.  Otherwise, we may well come to realize too late, that in the final analysis the underlying defeat of the West is occurring at the lecterns of professors and imams and in our public media, not in the battlefields of the Middle East.

In the mean time, may we instigate the appropriate judicial processes, national security measures, and military strategy changes needed to face today's reality of the seditious, dangerous and growing challenges of jihadism now operating within this United States and around the world. I firmly believe that the more educated we in the West are about the true Islamist threat, the more able we will be to free ourselves. 

I agree that the importance of the January 24, 2011 event reported below can not be overestimated -- truth will set us all free.  As a result, the time to take advantage of this information and change the course of today's societies and that future generations is now.

"A historic and potentially momentous event occurred on January 24, 2011 impacting the teachings and understanding of Islam. 

To put that event in perspective, we have seen over the last few decades problems related to Islamism, including terrorism, suicide bombings, but also suppression of values of human rights in several Islamic societies.   

Reforming the understanding of Islam has been suppressed for hundreds of years after the leading Sunni scholars stopped the process of Ijtihad or renewing the understanding of the religion. As a result, young Muslims did not have options to learn Islam except from anachronistic and old fashion interpretations and jurisprudence books.    

On January 24, 2011, the first document advocating the renewing of Islamic teachings and understanding has been published in Al-Youm Al-Sabeii (The 7th day). According to the journal 25 leading Egyptian thinkers and Islamic scholars including scholars from Al-Azhar University contributed to the document.    

The importance of this event cannot be overestimated.  Here are the Journal's main points that are the subject of renewal.  

1-     New evaluation of the Hadith books and better selection for the Hadith of prophet Mohamed.

2-     Changing some traditional teachings regarding the concept that Non-Muslims must pay Jizzia (humiliating tax) to Muslims.

3-     Changing the traditional Islamic understandings in relation to dealing with women

4-     New understanding for the concept of Jihad

5-     Allowing Muslims to use Non-Sharia compliant banking systems. 

6-     Better preparation of the preachers and allowing independent thinkers who were not educated in Islamic institutes to contribute to Islamic teaching and reform.

7-     Separation between the Mosque and the State

8-     Accepting that women and Christians can lead Islamic countries

9-     Modernizing Al-Azhar Islamic education

10- Creating better relation with Non-Muslims via the school and houses of worship.  

It is fair and accurate to say that this step and approach-if applied correctly- can be considered the first significant change that ever happened in the history of Islam toward its desperately needed reformation.  

The power of this step stems from the fact that it acknowledges the existence of a problem, addresses its root cause (s), and admits the need for a change in Islamic teaching and education. On the contrary to the appeasing approach that denies the existence of an ideological component for the phenomenon of violent Islam, the previously mentioned honest approach is the ONLY approach that will ultimately lead to a real and long term solution for the phenomenon of Islamic Radicalism. 

The impact of this step- if it resulted in a real change in the educational systems of the Muslim world- can be tremendous despite the fact that many regressive minds in the Muslim world will resist such a change. The use of modern Internet technology and T.V. satellites can speed up the process of reformation. It is reasonable to say that the new document heralds the beginning of vital change within Islam and that this change may not influence every Muslim as there is no single control system for Sunni Islam but certainly such an approach can produce a significant change in Muslim population toward modernity. The educational change can prevent radicalization of many young Muslims."