In the last five years we have seen an increase of “Islamists” in the world who have been doing horrific things however not too many people know that Islamists are not necessarily “Muslims”. The main difference between regular Muslims and Islamists is the political component. A regular Muslim may be secular, moderate, practicing, etc. However, when the political component comes in, it changes everything.
There is nothing wrong with lobbying for values you believe in, as long as they are not forced upon others or take away the rights of others. The problem with political Islam is that it does not want to co-exist with other people or religions . It wants to be the only one in control. This control goes to every aspect of your life, including your personal life.
Shariah Law is something that is one of the core components of Political Islam, this is why you see many so called American Muslim organizations advocating it without violence. If you want to find a true American Muslim organization, they will not be promoting Shariah Law. There are parts of Shariah Law that has to do with the practice of religion, however they are all ‘personal laws’ for individuals, not for the whole society. Also, not all Shariah Law interpretation is the same. The law that is a spiritual law should never be used for temporal judgement or punishment. It is something the individual has to deal with depending on their own personal interpretation of the sacred texts.
Something else to note is the false assumption that all organizations that call themselves Muslim or American Muslim actually represent Muslims or American Muslims. When an organization comes out and says things that are very leftist and Islamist, they do not represent all Muslims or Individual Muslims. We should never assume that organizations like CAIR represent every Muslim individual, in fact I do not feel that they represent me well, because their view tends to lean towards conservative Islamist viewpoints.
You have to stop and ask, why would a CAIR Executive Director in California come out and say that American Veterans should not be honored on Memorial Day? This offends me as both an American and Muslim. This ideology reeks of leftist, liberal Islamist ideology. As a Republican Muslim, I do not agree with this anti-American ideology because I find it border line treason if not treason.
The same people who slam the US Military will glorify the military conquests of the Sunni Caliph Umar and those who are Sunni Radicals will glorify Caliph Al-Baghdadi of ISIS. The problem with the idea of Caliphate is that it is Political Islam. Any Muslim that supports a Caliphate can not support American Democracy. It is impossible to be a “Caliphatist” and American at the same time. If you want a Caliphate, you should not claim to be an American.
Fortunately, there are many Sunni, Shia, and Sufi Muslims that do not believe in the Caliphate or Political Islam. The Caliphate itself is a Non-Shia ideology that is uniquely Sunni in origin. Hence, no Shia will ever support a Sunni Caliphate such as that of the Wahabists/Salafists of ISIS. The number one victims that join ISIS are radicalized Sunnis, because the Caliphate is a big part of Sunni ideology to begin with. Sunni Sufis, similar to Shias, tend to think of the Caliphate the way Shia’s look at the Imamate, which is a spiritual leadership and not temporal.
The political ideology in Iran is actually against traditional Shia beliefs, because the only true spiritual leaders are the Imams, not the Caliphs or Ayatollahs. The concept of Wilayat-e-Faqih is against traditional Shia ideals of leadership, because it is tainted with temporal politics.
Overall, as American Muslims we can only remain free and help the rest of our countrymen/women by denouncing the Temporal Caliphate and Shariah Law. Ideally, hardcore interpretations of Islam should be harmless as the Amish, yet Political Islam and especially Wahabism is a threat to the safety of humanity.
