Quote:
Originally Posted by Kansas Bear
Excuse me for interrupting, are you insinuating that nationalism(for lack of a better term) has been the influential force in terms of a belligerent form of Islam?
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No - In fact I would argue that while the Muslim world is not a monolithic entity (talking about the vast majority of moderates, IMO, here) in terms of faith and how they practice and express it, the "belligerent form of Islam" seems to have an underlying homogeneity and "uniformity of cause", once you get past whatever the initial, "apparent" causal factors are.
The "belligerent" movements are given nationalistic cover - it is perhaps used as a catalyst to start off the movement (Iraq and Afghanistan for example). That said, one of my (and others) major criticisms of some Muslim posters in other forums is that they place religion above nationalism. I think that for Islamic extremists (and even some moderates) there exists a sort of "Islamic nationalism" - the Khilafat encompassing the Muslim world, the Ummah, Muslim brotherhood.
The nation is Islam, and its citizens are Muslims.
I apologize if I was all over the place with my response - getting a bit late......