In my last post, I wrote about the problems with the all-encompassing war on terror metaphor pushed by the Bush administration. But I’m actually writing this time to defend the use of the term “Muslim world,” even though I acknowledge that it is a great oversimplification that fails to illuminate the diversity within Muslim communities. Our organization has been hosting a series of “Hope not Hate” summits for young leaders around 9-11 on the “future of U.S.-Muslim world relations.” Several students have written to us to say they think it is wrong to group all Muslims into a single world. And, worse yet, they ask what this distinction means for American Muslims. After all, they are fully Americans just like any other citizen of this country regardless of their religion. These students also asked how we could compare a country and a faith, a region and a religion. One student went so far as to boycott our conference “because i didn’t want to sit around and explain to a bunch of orientalist jerks why it’s not ok to generalize.”

I certainly appreciate and respect these concerns, but I actually think the use of the term “U.S.-Muslim world relations” is an apt reflection of where we are today and the challenge we face. Certainly, the Muslim world is a mosaic, not a monolith. But there are certain sentiments that countries with a predominantly Muslim population increasingly agree on. Recent studies suggest that people in countries with a high Muslim population increasingly perceive and define themselves based on their religious (rather than national) identity and they overwhelmingly see the U.S. as the primary threat to their country and their way of life. And in the U.S., surveys show rising prejudice by American non-Muslims toward American Muslims. The term “U.S.-Muslim world relations” recognizes this current divide and the real and unfortunate fact that today we see ourselves as increasingly separable into different camps. It also illuminates the real tensions for many American Muslims today who feel understandably as if they are being treated like second-class citizens in their own country. Of course, our organization wants to overcome these growing divisions and to show that non-Muslims and Muslims have a great deal in common and much at stake in their common future. But I don’t think you overcome the dichotomy by denying the existence of a “U.S.-Muslim world” relationship. After all, international relations is about perceptions and the perception already exists in the minds of the vast majority of the world’s public. I think you need break down this dichotomy by acknowledging two worlds in the eyes of the public and then showcasing how these supposedly separate “worlds” are actually quite interconnected and interdependent. Hopefully, this will help the public realize that even if you perceive two worlds today, we need to find common ground between our worlds for the sake of our shared humanity.

Related posts:

1. Big, Allied and Dangerous: The Behavior of Terrorist Organizations
2. What Not to Do About Yemen
3. Winning over the Muslim world
4. Picking Sides: yes to Hamas, no to Taliban. Russia and US at crossroads
5. There Can Be No Privileged Perch