Does Islam Need A Reformation (supossedly a debate but not really)

[Mudhammam]

Islam quite obviously needs something of a reformation. The question that needs to be asked, however, is a reformation to what? Anyone who reads the Qur'an or the biography of Muhammad can easily discover that Islam as preached by the Prophet in Mecca was much different than the Islam he practiced following the migration to Medina. The obvious problem in using language like "reformation" is that it calls to mind the Christian reformation and the return to first principles that for the West was crucial for the eventual re-emergence of secular values. I fear that such a reformation in Islam would not be a good thing, for the very reasons that ISIS and other like-minded groups are currently demonstrating. If we mean a reformation to the so-called Golden Age of Islam, then that would only leave us halfway to a proper Muslim Enlightenment, but... if history is any guide, the Qur'an doesn't make such a project very feasible, for all the same reasons that al-Ghazali's admixture of religious enthusiasm and cynicism triumphed over the moderation and skepticism of those like Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd and led to the destruction of philosophy in the Arab world post-12th century.