Chinese spread Islam, not Arabs

Bohras help War-ravaged Kufa get back its glory – The Times of India. A sprinkling of Dawoodi Bohras, with their white and gold pillbox skullcaps, stand out among thousands of pilgrims paying obeisance at one of the holiest Islamic shrines — the Great Mosque at Kufa in Iraq. But hardly anybody among the faithful knows that the small trading community from Mumbai has single-handedly rebuilt the site at the peak of strife in the beleaguered Arab country.

I like Eboo a lot. I think he’s actually behind the curve on this one though; the Muslim-American community is well on the path he describes. Doesn’t mean that he doesn’t say it well. The Faith Divide: The future of Islam in America – On Faith at washingtonpost.com. Big tent Islam means that Muslims from a range of geographies, ethnicities, theologies and intensities all consider themselves part of a single community whose similarities outweigh their differences. It means Sunnis and Shias, sufis and salafis, African-American converts and Arab immigrants, five-times-a-day-prayers and once-a-year-mosque-goers have two words for each other: fellow Muslim.