I think that while this concern is understandable, the opposite may also be true: Young generations may lose the faith if Islam remains too closed to rationality, individuality, tolerance and freedom.<\/p>\n
For that reason, I find the American Muslim quandary fascinating \u2014 and promising. \u201cLiberalism\u201d as a framework for a free society is painfully lacking in large parts of the Muslim world today. If the Muslim community in the United States, what Mr. Patel called the \u201cAmerican ummah,\u201d can embrace that by reinterpreting its traditions without losing itself, it could contribute to the broader ummah by offering new perspectives and a lived example.<\/p>\n
Charles Taylor, one of the most prominent thinkers on religion today, reminds us of a historical precedent in an essay from 2011<\/a>: In the 19th century, American Catholics were seen by the Protestant majority as \u201cinassimilable to democratic mores, in ways very analogous to the suspicions that nag people over Islam today.\u201d But, Mr. Taylor added, \u201cAmerican Catholicism evolved and, in the process, changed world Catholicism in significant ways.\u201d<\/p>\n A similar transformation took place within American Judaism, as Steven R. Weisman shows in his recent book, \u201cThe Chosen Wars: How Judaism Became an American Religion<\/a>.\u201d Rabbinical authority waned, women became empowered, practices were modernized and Reform Judaism flourished.<\/p>\n Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n An excellent piece worth re-reading from @akyolinenglish<\/a>: The predominant trend within Islam in America is not “creeping sharia” but rather “creeping liberalism” https:\/\/t.co\/AW24d4DtN6<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Shadi Hamid (@shadihamid) July 17, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n