At the Washington Post, Parag Khanna writes about how the term “Muslim world” is misleading, inaccurate, and should no longer be used:
Just as there has not been any meaningful “Christian world” since the Holy Roman Empire, there has been no unified “Islamic world” since the Middle Ages. For centuries thereafter, Turks, Persians and Arabs squabbled over ideological hegemony. Sunni versus Shiite is just one of Islam’s divides today, reminding the world that the faith has no supreme authority to which all believers adhere. By using the term “Muslim world,” we only elevate the likes of Mullah Omar or Osama bin Laden, whose rhetoric turns archaic Islamist fantasies into self-fulfilling prophecies. Speaking to all Muslims is speaking to none of them.
The United States will never pursue consistent policy across the Muslim world’s petro-states, monarchies and failed states, nor do we need to do so. In Turkey, we should speak of how to help the country join the European Union. In Pakistan, focus on integrating tribal areas into the constitutional structure. In Egypt, speak of job creation and a legitimate transfer of power from Hosni Mubarak. Such efforts are taken through traditional foreign policy—between nations, not cultures.
Read the full article here.