Mark,
I would take issue with your statement about what I’m inferring. On a theoretical level, those fault lines certainly exist and I definitely see them. Hugh Fitzgerald on Jihad Watch has lots to say on how these can be exploited, but on a practical level, Islam per se provides a level of cohesiveness that enables Muslims to act in a manner akin to Spengler’s “beast with many hands and one head”. Muslims are probably much more homogenous than Westerners are, in many respects, and it’s much more difficult to split them, because the typical appeals to those categories that work with Westerners, class, sex and race, don’t work as well because they are subsumed under the category “Muslim”. Again, these are people who are convinced there is an afterlife and this belief colors their actions in this world.
We face today a particularly virulent form of Islam with deep roots, but Wahabism (aka Salafism) is still a minority sect.
Wahabbism is indeed a minority sect, but it has the wind at its back, with Saudi money funding its expansion to areas where the local tolerant version of Islam had reigned. And don’t forget that Amahdinejad was just recently invited to Saudi Arabia during the hajj, which was the first time a Shiite had that honor, if I remember correctly. There is enough Islamic doctrine that holds steady across even the Sunni-Shiite divide that enables Muslims to unite against “the infidel”.
Another consideration is that the way Muslims propose to “paper over” these fissures is by conquering us. I know, it all seems so “rag tag” today because Muslims are so backward.
Muslims generally do accomodate in time.
Then please explain why second and third generation European Muslims are more radical than their parents and grandparents? I’m pretty sure that trend is indicative of Muslim attitudes toward modernity and assimilation, and I stand by that statement I made about the relationship of Muslims to material progress/regress. A few million Muslims in Israel notwithstanding. Of course, I’d love good survey data directly addressing this question, but my current conclusion is that I’m analyzing this issue correctly.
