The soft use of language

Back in March I contributed to Center for Amerian Progress’ report on “Sharia Law.” The report can be found here. But by defining Sharia itself as the problem, and then asserting the authenticity of only the most extreme interpretations of Sharia, the authors are effectively arguing that the internecine struggle within Islam should be ceded to extremists. They also cast suspicion upon all observant Muslims. It’s important to understand that adopting such a flawed analysis would direct limited resources away from actual threats to the United States and bolster an anti-Muslim narrative that Islamist extremist groups find useful in recruiting.…

The book Brian is talking about sounds fascinating. His last paragraph is important for understanding the transformation that is taking place in Islamic studies regarding the place of Shi’ism. Brian’s Coffeehouse: Tales of Ibn Saba. Anthony’s book, together with Najam Haider’s work showing that there were distinct Shi’ite practices in Kufa in the early 700’s, makes 2011 an important year in the growth of our understanding of what the sectarian landscape was like in Islam’s first century, as well as how it was articulated and how it slowly evolved into the more established Sunni and Shi’i Islam of the 800’s. …