A Struggle of the Souls of American Muslims

Submitted by Edward Halper (United States), Jul 14, 2009 at 13:19

ISNA, CAIR and other groups are struggling to capture the souls of American Muslims. They are deeply afraid that Muslims will assimilate and adopt American values. To prevent them from doing so, they must convince Muslims that they are victims of discrimination and that they face real threats. Claims about the Protocols and the nefarious powers of Jews help them to make their case. From their point of view, objections to their message confirms its content: an outcry against antisemitism proves the power of the Jews.
The most important thing we can do to limit the influence of these groups is to refuse to recognize them as spokesmen for Muslim-Americans. Just by recognizing them, we grant them and their message legitimacy and we leave them open to exert a stranglehold over Muslims who would otherwise happily embrace values of freedom and opportunity for all.

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".