Talk:Mahmoud Mohamed Taha

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I've tried to clean up, structure, NPOV and wikify this article. I suspect that it is still POV, considering the material was clearly dropped here by someone who is passionate about Taha. If someone who knows more about Sudanese history and politics could NPOV it, that'd be great. Babajobu 09:05, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

Incidentally, I think this material is wonderful. I didn't meant to suggest otherwise when I said that I thought it was POV because put here by someone who is passionate about Taha. To the anonymous contributor who put it here: thanks! Babajobu 17:45, 19 July 2005 (UTC)

I think this article should be split up into a Biography of Mahmoud Mohamed Taha and main article. How do the legions of other contributors feel about this? Also, we need to deal with the fact that some of this article appears to be a copyright vio. Babajobu 12:26, 28 August 2005 (UTC)

I read some on him while working on a paper I'm doing on Sudan. He doesn't quite fit into my paper well, but I hope to mention him in it because he's an interesting figure. The most appealing, to me as a non-Muslim, of Sudanese Islamic thinkers. That said it's true his ideas were viewed as eccentric, at best, and never really went mainstream in Sudan or elsewhere. He put a strong emphasis on what's called, I believe, "the Mecca verses." Which means the verses before Muhammed fled to Medina. He kind of believed the time in Medina was just describing something Muhammed had to do for awhile and so what's said in those portions should be less important to modern Islam. (Or in least that was the criticism. The truth is a lot more complex I think. He apparently did want Islam in politics, but he also wanted the Islam in politics to allow for universality and democracy. He felt existing Islamic law efforts were harmful, poorly conceived, or corrupt it seems.--T. Anthony 12:39, 13 November 2005 (UTC))In the modern age he believed Islam should be about piety and have little role in politics. (His detractors agreed that he was strong on charity, fasting, prayer, and piety in the Islamic mold) However many Muslims were offended and felt he was denigrated some of the most important parts of the Qur'an. Hence he ticked some people off and maybe limited his appeal. Because of the rather tragic nature of his death most sources on him tend to be pretty hagiographical. Even the NIF types later tended to disavow his execution deeming him a harmless elderly eccentric. That tends to be the main critical response I find in this age. That he was eccentric or overly naive. Although many in the West, me included once I learned of him, seeing him as a religious martyr might have angered some ultra-orthodox Muslims.--T. Anthony 12:27, 13 November 2005 (UTC)

In other words, and somewhat surprisingly, I'm not sure I could be very unbiased either. Reading about the whole sad affair of Sudan he was one of the few bright spots. Reading a bit of his own words I also found myself liking him more than most other Sudanese figures I studied. (I'm including leaders of the South too) I could look for immoderate word choices though, and mention the criticism he was unrealistic, but maybe later.--T. Anthony 12:39, 13 November 2005 (UTC)

I have recently been informed of an article in the New Yorker online called "The Moderate Martyr" which goes into good detail about Taha. I'm not certain if anything in it isn't in this article, but thought it might be a helpful resource. The link to that article is:

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060911fa_fact1 --Daniel 15:13, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Taha's Philosophy?

There is very little here about Taha's views, other than that he rejected the application of Sharia law (but I think he was ok with Sharia law but had a different idea of what it was/should be). I don't know much about Taha's views, but it seems more is needed here. If there is to be a split in articles, let this one (under his name) be his biography, and let some other named article refer to hsi views perhaps. But, somewhere, they should be summed up better. Thanks :)--Daniel 23:20, 3 October 2006 (UTC)