Islam’s merged religion-politics absolutism raises friction with all other civilizations

Evidence

This section sets out to demonstrate why this is an erroneous reading of the history of Islam. While Islam came into being as both a political and religious ideology, since at least the eighth century it has had a de facto separation of political and religious power. Furthermore, there is nothing unique in Islam’s political potential. When the papacy sought to unite Europe under the banner of Christianity, it unleashed the Crusades in the name of God. Christianity too has been political since at least the fourth century (when Rome adopted Christianity as its official religion), if not since its founding. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 284 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

It is often taken for granted that Islam is homogeneous. This is in large part because Orientalists propagated the myth that Islam is a monolith that can be fully understood through its classical texts. It is only when one works from such an assumption that one can make claims about a static entity, the “Muslim civilization,” with a core set of unchanging values, or about the “Muslim mind” (viewed in the singular, as though all Muslims share a hive mind). By denying the diversity of Islamic history and practices, it becomes possible to state that “Islam” has certain inherent, unchanging characteristics that render it anti-democratic, violent, sexist, and so on. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 273 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Wahhabism legitimizes itself by declaring nearly all other Muslims apostates — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 1847; Empire-building forced a de facto separation of religious and political power in Islam.; Islam is the only civilization that has twice threatened the West’s survival (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Islam has practiced de facto separation of religion and politics since the eighth century #contradicts (0.92) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 284
• Claiming Islam is a monolith requires denying its historical diversity #complicates (0.74) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 273
• Islam is politically constitutive yet positioned outside the political #complicates (0.72)
• Polycentrism in Islam, like no core state, undermines unity #complicates (0.70) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 481