Early Cold War discourse coded Islam positively when anti-communist

Evidence

In this context, nationalists and leftists who opposed US imperialism were cast not as bad “Muslims” but bad Arabs, Iranians, Afghans, or South Asians. Various leftists were not explicitly identified as bad Muslims. To the extent that “Islam” and “Muslims” were part of political discourse in the early Cold War era, the terms tended to be coded positively. As I have argued elsewhere, Saudi Islam in service of empire was the “right” kind of Islam. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 392

Categorization

• XREF: Directly corroborates the Aziz/Razack/Rana cluster claim that Islamophobia as a coherent imperial discourse was not operative during early Cold War; ‘good Muslim/bad Muslim’ framing here echoes Mahmood Mamdani’s distinction. — connects to: US cold-war strategy deliberately weaponized religion against nationalism and communism in Muslim regions — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 388; During the early Cold War, Islam was coded positively in US discourse — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 392; Fear of Soviet alignment drove early US pressures on Muslim-majority nationalists (+2 more)
• SEED: Angle for an essay: the pre-9/11 ‘right Islam / wrong Islam’ split as the template later repurposed into Muslim-American citizenship.