[R. Collins]

I was raised as a Christian and converted (or ‘reverted’) to Islam in 1998. In my experience, American Muslims (two-thirds of whom are either immigrants from the ‘Islamic world,’ or the children of immigrants) are less likely than American Christians to condone violence for the advancement of the faith. This is not to condemmn Christians; I believe only a fraction of 1% of them are violent in the manner of Eric Rudolph. I am only saying that among Muslims, it is an even smaller fraction of 1%. Why does it appear otherwise? There are a few reasons: 1. Muslims are a minority that still seems strange and foreign to the majority (much as Jews seemed to other Americans in the early 20th century – and still are, to a few bigots). When a member of the majority slaughters innocent people (e.g. the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City), everyone is suitably frightened, yet they also understand that it was an aberration, and no one asks why the Christian leaders failed to condemn it. When a member of a minority slaughters innocent people, only then does it occur to the majority that this extreme act might represent the opinion of most minority people. Then a statement of condemnation is called for. 2. Islam is not a hierarchical religion. There is no single central authority that speaks on behalf of all the Muslims, just loose networks of congregations that freely associate with each other – a little like the traditional Baptist way of doing things, before the Southern Baptist Convention became so powerful. The only authority we all recognize is God (Allah), the Qur’an, and the legacy of the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). I imagine it would be a little easier for us to soothe the fears of non-Muslims if there were some sort of arch-leader whom we were all supposed to obey. But that is not how we do things: Our global community is diverse and decentralized, but united by shared belief and nearly identical forms of worship. (Until 1920 there was a khalifah, or ‘successor’ to Muhammad, who was the nominal commander of all Muslims, but in practice his authority was always extremely limited.) 3. As someone else mentioned, Muslims in America have not learned how to get our message across through the media. [continued…]

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Name : R. Collins, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Muslim, Age : 39, City : Birmingham, State : AL, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

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