Yes, This Is About Islam

In this New York Times op-ed article, controversial novelist Salman Rushdie rejects the official US stance that the war against terrorism is not about Islam. The US dissociates terrorism from Islam to maintain the global coalition against terrorism that necessarily includes Muslim countries. However, Rushdie says, Muslim demonstrations around the world in support of Osama bin Laden and the much-repeated Islamic sentiment that 'the Jews' bombed the World Trade Center reveal a pervasive anti-American feeling among Muslims. Rushdie believes that these anti-American sentiments are the result of a rejection of modernity by Muslim theologians, but points out that moderate and secular analysts are beginning to object to obscurantist hijacking of their religion. For Rushdie, the solution lies in the relegation of religion to the personal realm, and an appropriation of modernity in the Muslim world. – YaleGlobal