Daisy

Submitted by Safraz (United States), Oct 22, 2006 at 23:16

Daisy,

We can have a debate some other time about multiculturalism in America and the lines we must draw when respecting one culture's values infringes on another's - especially when that other is the majority culture. For the record I believe one of the greatest things about America is its multiculturalism and how we manage to balance so many varying cultures within the overarching American culture.

My focus rather is not on the effects of Muslim immigration in America, but on the struggle within Islam and within the Muslim world for the soul of of Islam. And that is why fatwas - the mass majority of which condemn violence and terrorism - are important in this debate, as they in essence define the current state of the religion.

My point is that the media in the West focus shamelessly on fatwas for violence - usually issued by people who have no legal training in Islamic jurisprudence (such as everyone in Al Qaeda for example) and so have no business issuing fatwas (Islamic legal opinions).

A good example of this problem is the recent fatwa by 36 prominent Islamic scholars from around the world, includign the mufti of Istanbul - that was in the form of a letter to the Pope. It received very little coverage in the West. The Christian Science Monitor in a recent article on the fatwa put it best when it said that Islam has a public relations problem.

Much like much of the Muslim world misunderstands America and its values, much of America misunderstands the Muslim world.

If you're interested the Monitor's article can be found here:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1019/p01s03-wome.html

Safraz.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".