Reformed Islam of today neither Sunni nor Shia'

While Reformed Muslims are from Sunni and Shia' traditions (or may identify with some other tradition) the distinctive feature of the movement as I conceive it (viewing it from a non-Muslim perspective) is its attempt to make Islam a vital force in today's cultural milieu.  Specifically, women are not only to be acknowleged as equal to men but must be treated thusly in everyday affairs.  Morevoer--importantly-- the concept of jihad as an aggressive, hostile response to supposed injustice has no longer relevance to the modern era.  That is to say, tendencies to embrace  traditional attitudes out of respect to the Islamic past that did aver behaviors (which may have been appropriate) in another cultural epoch have no place, I believe, in the modern practices and beliefs of a Reformed Islam.

Nevertheless, I heard, just today on TV, one or another analyst of the contemporary strife between these two major Islamic traditions contend that through the one or the other the believer can rightfully claim to be Reformist. To my mind, such an appellation amounts to nothing more than wishful thinking.

The point I'm trying to make is that just as in Christianity, the Reformation from Martin Luther on wrought significant attempts by enlightened clerics to overhaul Christianity so as to appear meaningful in the manifold of contemporary changing social climates,  even so (I now contend) Islam must embrace a changing world with the Muslim changeless message of  the importance of prayer and dedication to Allah in one's life--that we are called to draw nigh to the Creator.  I can't emphasize enough that Islam as a religion, not as a political force, has a grounding in human hope and dedication to life-giving principles vital for mankind irrespective of cultural situations.  Please, don't attempt to resurrect an Islamic past that no longer is relevant to the world of today!  Focus upon the divinity Islam enables us to find, no matter our generation's situ.

Put succinctly, a Muslim has every right to claim the divine truth of Islam based on his religious encounters, but he ought not thereby to claim exclusivity for Islam as The Way to experience God.  For there are many ways a person knows the Creator and eternal Life-Force; and a cloud of witnesses, only some of the Islamic faith, attest to God's power in their own lives.