Teheri doesn't say it, but the article makes it clear. A Muslim may live in America. But he/she is not an American who happens to be a Muslim.
I don't agree. I think there are many Americans who happen to be Muslim, just as there are many Americans who happen to be Jewish (trust me, traditional Orthodox Judaism is just as big on ethno-religious separation as Islam).
The difference is, most American Jews are Reform or Conservative, and if you ask them, "Are you a good Jew?" they will answer, "Not so bad.".
But there is no Reform or Conservative Islam. There is only traditional Islam and even worse, nut-case Salafi Islam. If you ask the American Muslims, "Are you a good Muslim?" I think they will all say, "Oh no, I'm a bad Muslim." Because the religion as taught today is literal-minded and leaves no wiggle room for compromise with the Enlightenment.
So I think that the Big Pharaoh blogger is right when he says, "Islam must change." At some point, the massive state of cognitive dissonance imposed on all modernizing Muslims by the archaic nature of their faith has to be relieved somehow. |
