Like attracts like; it shouldn't be very difficult for well-intentioned Muslims and non-Muslims to work together. Having often said similar things on other sites, only to be hammered by racists and right-wing religious bigots, I commend the spirit and intention of this post. Even so, we have to remember that history of tolerance and acceptance of the Other in the West has always been predicated on the Other checking his soul at the door - this Master wants only slaves.  

   A useful dialogue that can ensue from this post, one that I am most anxious to hear, is at what point(s) do the believers concede so much much (spiritual?) territory that they become just another shadow people?  

<font face="Verdana" size="2">"Righteousness is not that you turn your faces towards the East or the West; but to believe in God, and the last day, and the angels, and the Book, and the Prophets; the righteous is one who out of love gives wealth to his kindred and to orphans and the poor, and the son of the road, and beggars, and those in captivity; and who is steadfast in prayer, and gives alms; and righteous are they who are sure of their covenant when they make a covenant; and are patient in poverty and distress, and in time of violence; these are they who are true." </font>

--Qur'an 2:172 

Ali -- Thanks.  You have written a remarkable piece and made my publishing today easy!  I will post any comments on my site here, as I am able.

I wish you and all my friends on Eteraz.org a Happy Thanksgiving. 

Where did the comments about mysterious Muslim women and virile Muslim sperm come from?

Were you putting this forth as real? 

I think your comments are well-taken.  For those of us (meaning Muslims, in this context) who have grown up in liberal democracies, our experience here has profoundly influenced our understanding of Islam.  At the same time, given the political realities of being Muslim in the US (and perhaps even more profoundly if one is a European Muslim), optimism about the promise of liberal citizenship for Muslims is an excercise in the triumph of hope over experience.  In that case, our experience is no different from other minorities.  After 9/11, I re-read W.E.B. DuBois' The Souls of Black Folk.  Not only were his essays extremely moving, I found them to be extremely relevant for American Muslims.  In Chapter XII ("Of Alexander Crummel"), for example, DuBois spoke of an unholy trinity of temptation that faced blacks growing up in the US: the temptation of Hate, the temptation of Despair and the temptation of Doubt.  American Muslims would be well-served to heed DuBois' warning regarding these temptations as they struggle to make their way in post-9/11 Western democracies.

One way to do so is to acknowledge our profound debt, both material and intellectual, to the broader culture of which we are a part.  I for one grew up largely in small-town Georgia, at a time when de jure segregatin had only recently ended, but most of its habits and mores remained predominant.  Even so, I have profoundly happy memories from that time of my life and was fortunate enough to have been taught by caring teachers who made an immense difference in my personal development.  In my mind, this more than compensates for the negative elements, i.e. the pervasive racism, that I witnessed growing up.  I say witnessed rather than experienced because as an Egyptian-American, I was neither white nor black, just in between, which was not such a bad place to be at that time.  Even compulsory readings of the Lord's Prayer (even though illegal at that time) were not experienced by me as discriminatory: there was just a naive protestant homogeneity that didn't even realize there were non-Christians in the classroom.  I am not defending this, just saying that the experience did not stigmatize me -- in fact, to this day I still know a portion (large or small, I'm not sure) of the Lord's Prayer, certainly not a bad thing. 

Likewise, my university experience was extraordinary: not only were my classes great, but I got a chance to make extraordinary friendships with people from all over the United States but also, for the first time in my life, Muslims.  Most importantly, the University gave me what was really a life-transformative opportunity -- the chance to learn Arabic.  That was truly serendipitous, since it had never even occurred to me when I was applying for college to consider the possibility that I might want to go to a school that offered Arabic.  That single fact radically changed my life, since it started down the long and arduous path of mastering Arabic and finally studying Islamic law, which in turn led me to go to law school, etc. 

I could go on and on about why, when one considers one's experience, everything Ali mentioned in his post must be true -- but I want to conclude by answering a certain theme that is repeated from time to time by elements of society that demand Muslims (especially Arab Muslims) "put up with" extra-scrutiny (otherwise known as "don't expect us to respect your rights").  This is a essentially a demand for us to be obsequious.  One cannot be treated as an equal if one agrees to such a demand.  Equality requires integrity, and asking someone to accept discriminatory treatment is tantamount to asking someone to give up his freedom.  Moreover, it is an utterly self-defeating request, because no one can credibly commit to non-equal treatment: such a promise can only be enforced by continual monitoring and coercion, as the promisor has every incentive to breach, and knowing this, the promisee has every reason to suspect the promisor's intentions and conduct.  It should not be a surprise, therefore, that current US policy confuses sycophancy with principled moderation.  To be clear: if I can't be your friend and disagree with you, well I would rather retain my privilege to disagree with you and let you decide whether you care enough about me to continue our friendship.  So, out of self-respect, and indeed respect for the liberal principles of democracy, Muslims must speak out against the repeated attempts to marginalize them and restrict their citizenship rights.  If they fail to do so, there is no hope that they can challenge destructive interpretations of Islam. 

I don't think that the recent glut of Westerners calling for the reformation of Islam is due solely to an imperial Western ambition. I believe that some of non-Muslim engagement with Islam is premised upon a well-intentioned impulse.

I think it might also have to do with the fact that a lot of naïve Westeners do not realize that Islam is not only unreformable, but inherently and incurably evil.