.... In washington, Professor Akbar Ahmed said Americans tended to be extremely wary of any role in politics for Islam. “Anyone with the slightest sympathy for Islam is seen suspiciously,” he said.
“That creates a mental trap,” he said, leading to the conclusion that Washington must support the “modernists” who oppose these “fanatics” (Mubarak, Ben Ali, etc) “at any cost.”
But the problem in the Muslim world is that these “modernists” have clung to power and failed to deliver for the people for so long that many Muslims feel they have no option but to support what Ahmed calls the “literalists.” [Reuters Blogs - FaithWorld] Read more
