The myth that Islam is a monolith enables claims about inherent Muslim traits

Evidence

While today only those on the far right would claim that Islam is a false religion, it is often taken for granted that Islam is homogenous. This is in large part because Orientalists, like their medieval counterparts, propagated the myth that Islam is a monolith that can be fully understood through its classical texts. Only working from such an assumption can anyone make claims about a static entity called “Muslim civilization” with a core set of unchanging values, or about the “Muslim mind” (viewed, of course, in the singular, as though all Muslims shared a hive mind). It is only by denying the diversity of Islamic history and practices that one can then argue that Islam has certain inherent, unchanging characteristics that render it antidemocratic, violent, sexist, and so on. The myths discussed in this chapter emerge from this core assumption that Islam is a monolith. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 158 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Said pushed forward, explaining how a cabal of formative Orientalists hijacked the very definition of Islam, ascribing to it a meaning that clashed with its essential being: “By using this single word they seem to regard Islam as a simple object about which grand generalizations spanning a millennium and a half of Muslim history can be made, and about which judgments concerning the compatibility between Islam and democracy, Islam and human rights, Islam and progress are quite unabashedly advanced.” Or in cogent War-on-Terror speak, Islam against civilization and everything that the civilized world valued, prized, and stood for. George W. Bush aptly summarized Samuel Huntington for the layman, proclaiming, “They hate our freedoms.” In both old and new crusades, “they” were Muslims. Those who adhered to the faith, domestically and abroad, were “they” unless and until they proved their allegiance to the United States and its new war. — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 270 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Claiming Islam is a monolith requires denying its historical diversity — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 273; Monolithic framing lets Islamophobes claim predictive knowledge of all Muslims — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 274; Homogenizing Islam as a monolithic culture anchors all Othering frames (+12 more)

Broader Connections

• The monolith myth underlies all other claims of Islam’s inherent traits. #corroborates (0.95) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 158
• Treating Islam as monolithic enables claims that it is inherently anti-democratic and violent #exemplifies (0.95)
• Flattening Islam into one object enabled civilizational judgments against it #corroborates (0.92) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 270
• Islam’s historical adaptability across polities refutes inherent-essence claims #complicates (0.78)
• Islam as tradition resists both fixed-structure and belief-collection definitions #complicates (0.75)