Here’s one for the “Wow. Didn’t See That Coming” file. Friend-of-Blather Fergus in the UK points me toward this fairly stunning report from the BBC.

The Turkish government has deployed some Muslim theologians in an attempt to save Islam from its rapid descent into medieval barbarism and spark what amounts to a Reformation—one that hopes to make the religion compatible with modernity.

How? By pulling the Koranic rug out from under the Luddites and jihadists:

The country’s powerful Department of Religious Affairs has commissioned a team of theologians at Ankara University to carry out a fundamental revision of the Hadith, the second most sacred text in Islam after the Koran.

The Hadith is a collection of thousands of sayings reputed to come from the Prophet Muhammad.

As such, it is the principal guide for Muslims in interpreting the Koran and the source of the vast majority of Islamic law, or Sharia.

Lots of outsider voices have been calling for an Islamic equivalent of The Great Reformation  of the 17th Century. But until now, I haven’t seen any credible evidence that any forces within Islam were interested in trying. Until now.

For decades now, Saudi-centered Wahhabism has been spreading like a cancer to mosques all over the world. It looks like a counter-force within Islam may be trying to rouse itself.

But is it too late?