On bridge-building

Dallas Morning Views | Rod Dreher:

“In 2003, after I'd only been in Dallas for a few months, we had a meeting with Dr. Sayyid Syeed, head of the Islamic Society of North America. Dr. Syeed was as pleasant as could be as long as we talked very generally about peace and cooperation. But when I asked him how he squared his professed belief in peace and tolerance with the indisputable fact that members of the ISNA board had been directly linked to extremist organizations and viewpoints, he became furious, shook his fist at me, told me that I would one day 'repent,' and said my questions reminded him of Nazi Germany.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Rod Dreher's account of his interviews with Dallas area Muslim leaders certainly suggests an unwillingness on their part to brook any criticism. But Mr Dreher's criticism contains assumptions that may contribute to the Muslim leaders' belief that there is a bias against Muslims.

Mr Dreher criticizes mosques using Muslim philosopher Sayyid Qutb's thought as part of a quiz competition. He doesn't say how the quiz questions were worded or whether Sayyid Qutb's thought is taught by the mosque in a doctrinaire manner or as part of a survey of Islamic philosophers. Mr Dreher himself presents to his readers a passage from Sayyid Qutb's writings, but presumably he's not promoting Qutb by doing so. We shouldn't just assume mosques are doing so by presenting Qutb's writings to their students.

Even if we grant Mr Dreher's implication that the mosques are promoting Sayyid Qutb, the passage Mr Dreher chooses to quote doesn't strike me as all that different from what a fundamentalist Christian might say. Don't they argue that you can't pick and choose which verses of scripture to believe? Don't they argue that the only way to salvation is through Jesus Christ? Don't they believe it a Christian's duty to spread the good news of Jesus Christ and convert the unbelievers? Just how much dialog can one have with people whose SUVs sport a bumper sticker that proclaims, "God said it. I believe it. That settles it."

None of this should be interpreted as defense of Sayyid Qutb and his intolerant views. Or criticism of Christianity's faith-based certitude about the correctness of its own world view, for that matter. It is meant to suggest that no one should be surprised that Rod Dreher's prosecutorial attitude results in defensive backlash from Muslims rather than the bridge-building dialog Mr Dreher says he wants.