Following are excerpts from an interview with Saudi scholar Ahmad bin Baz, son of a former Saudi Mufti, which aired on Al-Arabiya TV on June 4, 2010:
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/0/0/0/0/0/0/2561.
Ahmad bin Baz: "We Muslims have found ourselves at the tail end of the world's progress. The Muslims are always on the receiving end, and their only role in life is to receive from others. Western society has become the society of innovations. It is Western society that produces and adapts itself to the changes of life, whereas we Muslims have become passive recipients of all these innovations, and all we do is sit down and ponder whether these innovations are permitted or forbidden by Islam. This is a definite sign of our weakness. [...]
"There are not enough muftis, and this has formed a vacuum, which is being exploited by the [Islamist] TV channels, and every Tom, Dick, and Harry has entered this field. [...]
"In my view, the so-called Islamic 'Awakening' movement – not all of them, I don't want to generalize... Their fear of the West and their never-ending adoption of conspiracy theories have led them to be suspicious of everything, and to think that everything must have something else behind it. Therefore, they tend to consider any invention to be forbidden, or to be part of a conspiracy. [...]
"The term 'Land of Polytheism,' 'Land of Islam,' and so on were coined by the jurisprudents of the past."
Interviewer: "They are not mentioned in the Koran."
Ahmad bin Baz: "Exactly. They were coined in order to describe the condition of Islam or the Muslim state at the time, in accordance with the rulings of the shari'a. But today, things have changed. The notion of state has changed worldwide. Relations between countries have changed. The way the states are governed has changed. Therefore, application of ancient times to our times could be very problematic and might lead to unbearable consequences."
Interviewer: "In your view, in the case of Islamic economy, they used terms that reflect the needs of ancient society, but are not in keeping with our times."
Ahmad bin Baz: "Unfortunately, Islamic economy is based on Western economic theories. They borrow these theories, strip them of their original names, and give them names in accordance with the shari'a. Thus, it becomes an Islamic economy. All we do is cut-and-paste."[...]
