KHALED AHMED

What Pakistan has not realized is that if you are an unstable country, and economically in a crisis, it doesn't really pay to have a nuclear device, because that device, too, becomes unstable

Pakistan is an anomaly in the Islamic world, in the sense that there is a free press, which is amazing. I can't think of another Islamic country where the press is so free….one cannot claim that there is no fear. There is fear, but more and more people are saying what they want to say

We have gone back to some kind of medieval orthodoxy. Muslim societies all over the world are seen going back to what we think are the origins. At the same time, the clergy has become very vocal and very angry. There is that sense of utopia, because orthodoxy is literalist; they want to go back to a period of what they call Sharia, the way the prophet lived, the way the prophet ruled. There is also a resistance to separate religion and the state. Therefore, there is an Islamic utopia that the Muslims wish to achieve

If you have ideology, you are less tolerant of the variant point of view.

Rationalism came to Islam pretty early and was rejected pretty early, and it was under the influence of Greek philosophy that it came

In Pakistan, ideology actually forbids intellectual activity. For instance, there is one section in the penal code which says that if you criticize the ideology of Pakistan, you can be punished for it.

The great danger to my mind is Pakistan's inability to control its population. Of course, it's very difficult for the Muslims to have contraception, but if they put their mind to it, I think it's quite possible. It is only the radical Islamist man who actually opposes it, but there is a lot of evidence in Islamic thinking that you can actually have contraception, and prevent your population from breaking all bounds

If you have ideology, you are less tolerant of the variant point of view.

In Pakistan, ideology actually forbids intellectual activity. For instance, there is one section in the penal code which says that if you criticize the ideology of Pakistan, you can be punished for it.

Pakistan is an anomaly in the Islamic world, in the sense that there is a free press, which is amazing. I can't think of another Islamic country where the press is so free….one cannot claim that there is no fear. There is fear, but more and more people are saying what they want to say

Rationalism came to Islam pretty early and was rejected pretty early, and it was under the influence of Greek philosophy that it came

The great danger to my mind is Pakistan's inability to control its population. Of course, it's very difficult for the Muslims to have contraception, but if they put their mind to it, I think it's quite possible. It is only the radical Islamist man who actually opposes it, but there is a lot of evidence in Islamic thinking that you can actually have contraception, and prevent your population from breaking all bounds

We have gone back to some kind of medieval orthodoxy. Muslim societies all over the world are seen going back to what we think are the origins. At the same time, the clergy has become very vocal and very angry. There is that sense of utopia, because orthodoxy is literalist; they want to go back to a period of what they call Sharia, the way the prophet lived, the way the prophet ruled. There is also a resistance to separate religion and the state. Therefore, there is an Islamic utopia that the Muslims wish to achieve

What Pakistan has not realized is that if you are an unstable country, and economically in a crisis, it doesn't really pay to have a nuclear device, because that device, too, becomes unstable