Wisdom

What's that?

Mary Sanchez writes in the Kansas City Star:

A 2005 study found more than 60 percent of Americans did not know that Allah simply means God and that the Qur’an is sacred scripture. That’s pretty basic, folks.

The imams’ airline incident [six traveling religious leaders thrown off a flight by US Airways for traveling while Muslim] includes passengers worried that the men were angrily criticizing the United States before boarding the flight. They might have been. Then again, what is often labeled as “anti-American” is often a broader, more informed world viewpoint.

Many Muslims are better attuned to world politics, world faiths, than many U.S.-raised Christians. Sometimes this is due to being an immigrant, or having closer ties to foreign lands. But erasing this global gap is a start in the many disconnects between Muslims and other faiths within the United States.

Islamic scholars argue the United States no longer holds the luxury of remaining ignorant about Islam and its followers. They are right.