Intellectual Defenestration

Islam in the 21st century

Slate has an interesting review of the book What's Right with Islam : A New Vision for Muslims and the West. The book looks intriguing, apparently arguing essentially for a post-Enlightenment version of Islam, focusing on "'the Abrahamic tradition ... To love our neighbors, our fellow beings, regardless of race, religion, or cultural background, as we love ourselves'" rather than all that messy suicide bombing.

Incidentally, what strikes me about this book is that, while everyone keeps saying Islam needs a Luther, both the author of the review and the author of the book seem to be arguing that Islam really needs a Schleiermacher.

Maybe sometime later this summer I'll be able to read it. A couple specific questions I have right now are, how well would he be heard, e.g., just how strong is the moderate Muslim world? Second, the consistent cry of Islam since its inception has been "there is one God [Allah] and Allah Muhammed [oops!] is his prophet," which doesn't seem to jive with what the author of the book is arguing for. It would be interesting to see how he attempts to reconcile that.

Towards the end of the review, though, there was a related, thought-provoking paragraph:

If U.S. foreign policy were really the number one cause of anti-American terrorism, then there would be suicide bombers from those regions of the world most consistently screwed by American adventurism, like Latin America. But there is no Boricua Jihad, or Aztec Resistance Movement; the archbishop of Santiago does not call for unrelenting war against all Americans; there are no young boys in Ponce and East Harlem collecting the trading cards of glorious martyrs. Unlike the Muslim world, Latinos have not nourished a culture-encompassing religious institutions, primary schools, the mainstream press and government officials-that incites anti-American terrorism and praises the agents of it. An American Muslim leader who is serious about making an impact on American politics owes it to his various audiences to know where Washington's at fault and where it isn't.

June 4, 2004 12:08 PM