Thanks to Anulios, I just learned about something in Islam called Ijtihad. (And no, that’s not a misspelling of jihad, although Wikipedia asserts that they have a common root word meaning “struggle”). I’ll let the blog entry from Anulios explain it to you though:

Ijtihad was a philosophical practice inherent in Islam from the very beginning that stated that if something was true then it would not be harmed by questioning it, even in the most extreme manner. Conversely, something false would not be upheld under such questioning and would be exposed and this would be a good thing. Hence, it became a duty for Muslims to practice this questioning - on the words of Imams, teachings of Mullahs and even the Qur’an itself. This questioning is what resulted in the Golden Age of Islam and formed the foundation of one of humanity’s greatest civilizations.

It’s also suggested by Segovius (the author of Anulios) that ijtihad was forbidden as a practice because it became a threat to those in power, which in turn lead inexorably through the ages towards a more fundamentalist Islam. As stated over on Fantastic Planet’s entry about this, this is an excellent corrolary to the Path of Radical Questioning. Totally excellent stuff.

Also, here’s another link about a call for a return to Ijtihad and a re-thinking of modern Islam, via BoontDustie.