posted March 22, 2012 11:27 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Venus:
Ok Platero, you see as in every religion there are different ways of practice right? i mean there are the conservative folks, and the not so conservative practicing folks (we call them modernized practicing, and there are those who just don't practice..

practicing in itself differs from one Islam sect to another, Sunni, Shias etc.

now for Muslim's living abroad, especially in the US its particularly difficult. first of all they have been marginalized over the past decade post 9/11, they have been looked down to and labeled as terrorists. naturaly the American Muslim community would backlash to these harsh circumstances and the most obvious counter reaction would be huddling and forming clans to protect themselves (thats what i think).

for conservative Muslims it would be the hardest to exist in the US. After all it is one of the most culturally diverse countries there is and thus you cant just build a wall around yourself and expect to survive.

modernized practicing Muslims fit in just fine, they practice in their own terms, in the privacy of their own homes where no one will stare at them (unfortunately a Muslim praying attracts more eyes than a Christian praying) and they blend in well when they are out in the society therefore they are unlikely to display attitudes as the ones Hippychick's daughter encountered

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I completely agree with you about how more moderate Muslims are treated. It really annoys me that because of the actions of a few extreme people, it's assumed that every Muslim is a terrorist. It especially annoys me because there are plenty of Christian terrorists too, like the people who blow up abortion clinics or protest funerals.

I'd say that your description of liberal, moderate, conservative, and cultural-but-non-practicing is something that crosses religions and denominations, so I can relate to that.

I think that your point about Muslims sticking together due to being marginalized/prejudice makes a lot of sense. I can see that.

I also think that you make a good point about the difficulty of cultural assimilation. Given that Christianity is a pretty big majority (including non-practicing "cultural Christians"), I do think that it would be difficult for conservative Muslims to adjust to American culture. Even though America is, by my estimation, a pretty conservative country in a lot of ways, my guess would be that it's still more liberal than conservative Muslim cultures, and perhaps some of the negative interacts are from values dissonance/culture shock.

posted March 26, 2012 07:46 AM            

there are a number of liberal Arab countries one would be Lebanon, where i'm from..

the countres of the gulf are pretty liberal except for KSA, im sure if you visit down town dubai you really cant tell the differance