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Letters: Urban Muslims
The article Thick Islam and deep Islam (the Post, Aug
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he article Thick Islam and deep Islam (the Post, Aug. 16) is a good analysis, but I am worried that to some extent the ideas about "thick" urban Islam have been overgeneralized.
The writer has failed to see there is more than one kind of "thick" urban Muslim. Since these people have been modernized and to some extent westernized, there is also a large number of them who embrace tolerance, harmony, peace, dialogue and the eradication of corruption, as parts of their lives as practicing Muslims.
There is nothing wrong with explicit Muslim identity. People from every religion and culture identify themselves based on others' identities, even in New York City - not just Muslims.
If practicing Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Shihks and Christians are protected by US law to express their identities in their appearance, at educational institutions, in prayer rooms on Capitol Hill or in the White House, isn't it the weirdest thing on earth to perceive such phenomena as unacceptable or worrying in Indonesia?
And don't forget about "thick" urban Muslims who promote interfaith dialogues. You have CAIR in the US for example, and Indonesian Muslim Syamsi Ali who has been acknowledged for his contribution to interfaith harmony in the US and was awarded the Rhode Island award and invited to be with President George W. Bush at Ground Zero after the 9/11 tragedy.
My request to the writer is that you need to free yourself from any preconceptions about "thick" urban Muslims before making any conclusive judgments. Be a researcher, as you probably are.
I totally agree with you that there are problems of priorities within the urban practicing Muslim communities. However, I think they are not stupid enough to be fooled by any radical ideologies.
Gwen Williamson
Perth
