Shadi Hamid Quotes
Islamic Exceptionalism, however is neither good nor bad. It just is, and we need to understand it and respect it, even If it runs counter to our own hopes and preferences.
Many, if not most, non-Muslim scholars and thinkers very much disagree with Hamid on this point. The great exceptions of Islam are almost 1,000 years in the past. Current Islam, they argue, is not more exceptional than the beliefs of modern Mongolia which dominated most of the known world centuries ago, but has little that deserves special respect in the 21st country beyond the general respect which is owed to all religions and nationalities. With the exception of Turkey, Islamic nations are for the most part, backward, and virtually no other non-Muslim nations try to emulate them in any way.
Shadi Hamid, Islamic Exceptionalism, 2016
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
New Lanark was a Utopian commune organized by Owen.
This quotation illustrates that a narrow orthodox view of Islam is not the only one in Arab nations. Khaled is not an obscure cleric, but a popular television personality. While his views are considered heresy by many orthodox Muslims, the narrow view is by no means universal. Orthodox Islamists believe that God has commanded that all mankind be Muslims and the ones who are not are either ignorant so need to be “educated”, or evil and therefore should be killed. However, Muhammad ordained that an exception should be made for “Children of the Book”—Jews and Christians who revere the Old Testament. This was at a time when Christians would not allow any other form of worship but Christianity. Christianity, Judaism and most other religions have become tolerant of other religions and allow open alternative worship. Islam which early on led the way to tolerance, has in many countries gone back to the intolerance that existed amongst many Christians at the time of Muhammad.
One of the great historical religious puzzles is how Islam evolved from its origin of respect for other religions, to one where a large number of Islamic leaders preach that not only is Islam the only true religion but all other religions are enemies of Islam, and the preaching of hatred for Christians, Jews, Bhai, Budhists and other religions.
Dr. Shadi Hamid is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the author of the new book Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam is Reshaping the World (St. Martin’s Press). Hamid is a contributing writer for The Atlantic. His previous book Temptations of Power: Islamists and Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East was named a Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2014. An expert on Islam and politics, Hamid served as director of research at the Brookings Doha Center until January 2014. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The National Interest, and many other publications. He has been a guest on such programs as the PBS NewsHour, The Charlie Rose Show, NBC Nightly News, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” CNN GPS with Fareed Zakaria, and CNN’s Amanpour. Hamid received his B.S. and M.A. from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and his Ph.D. in political science from Oxford University.
