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NYT on Bosnian Islam

Islamic Revival Tests Bosnia’s Secular Cast – NYTimes.com It seems that there are several issues at stake here. 1. In a republic where one can exercise religion more freely than one has been able to do so in almost two generations, what is the line between expressing religion and reactionary religion? Or, more critically, what is the relationship between the state and religion? 2. There is the the usual undercurrent that devout Muslims are dangerous Muslims. Bars are the signifiers of a truly open society. I think as a metric, it’s a bit bizarre, but it’s the lens of the…

Progressive Scottish Muslims: Islam design tartan unveiled is far from representative. Islam and Muslims are not a monolith.

Progressive Scottish Muslims: Islam design tartan unveiled is far from representative. Islam and Muslims are not a monolith.. My view: But is ‘Islam’ a culture? In the same way that we can talk about our Scottish culture? If so, which Islam?  Which ‘Islamic’ country does this tartan represent in terms of all the Muslims in diaspora who live in Scotland?   Then this raises the question about whose Islam?  Is this a Shi’a, Sunni, Ahmadi, Alawi ‘Islam’ tartan?  Muslims are not a monolith and nor is ‘Islam’ — this is certainly not a progressive move

On a New York Times Roll

The NYT had an interesting series of unrelated articles about Muslims over the last week. Deprogramming Jihadists I respect that the article is trying to show how the Saudis are attempting to deal with demon they helped create, but really does not address some of the inconsistencies in the approach. For example: Saudi schools teach a version of world history that emphasizes repeated battles between Muslims and nonbelieving enemies. Whether to Afghanistan in the 1980s or present-day Iraq, Saudi Arabia has exported more jihadist volunteers than any other country; 15 of the 19 hijackers on Sept. 11 were Saudis. and…