Terry, Eilat - Israel
2010-08-18 21:32:20
Sparrowhawk.
People have many ”identities” – being a Catholic for you was only one, unless, you are a monk or priest, perhaps. But, you also have an American identity, perhaps a professional identity, a political identity, another ethnic identity (Irish, Italian).
If you were raised in a Western society, all of these various identities have some degree of importance. In a Muslim society, other identites are weak, submerged, for the most part, exception made perhaps for a tribal or clan identity (but even the tribal identity is deeply connected to Islam). It is the ”Islamic” identity which is overwhelmingly dominant. In the case of Arabs, Arab & Muslim are virtually synonomous.
