Thought this was an interesting essay worth sharing here -

Islam and America
R. R. Reno - First Things

Interesting read. I think, on the other hand, this is far more than what the average American Muslim thinks before putting patriotic love into the country. It's not so difficult a thought process as depicted by the King Faisal chair individual. I would also argue that Islam and pluralism are far more easily reconcilable than depicted in this essay.

The Nizari Ismaili Imam, Shah Karim al-Husayni, leader of 25 million Muslims, said this:

"Pluralism is no longer simply an asset or a prerequisite for progress and development, it is vital to our existence." - Speech at the Ceremony to Inaugurate the Restored Humayun's Tomb Gardens, New Delhi, India (15 April 2003)

Islam is the motherload of bad ideas.

To be fair, check out canadiaggie's main thread.

What seems a bad idea especially, starting from the 14th C if not earlier (?) is Khawarij attitudes and sect; apparently that is what modern times is calling the fundamentalist coercive literalists. That seems to be their name back then -- and in his thread, reads very like it.

This by extension means the other sects can handle pluralism and syncretism fine, which is what you see in some of Muslim history. Certainly Nasser's pan-Arabism was modern and even somewhat liberal in some key ways. It just fell afoul of Cold War games between the two super-powers.

There's a handy dandy AMA I started a few days ago, if you have any questions I'm happy to answer.