Sufi or not Sufi - that is the question

Thanks to Jay for drawing my attention to a New Republic article about the writings of Feisal Abdul Rauf, Sufi leader of the Cordoba Initiative involved in the cause célèbre of the Islamic centre to be built near the site of the Twin Towers. He sounds like a clever man, with a fine ironic sense of humour.

It seem the US Declaration of Independence Constitution “express the Islamic ideal, which is itself but an expression of the Abrahamic ethic.” Better yet, “the American Constitution and system of governance uphold the core principles of Islamic law.” Finally, Rauf writes, “the overarching American religion that all Americans live under is ‘Islamic’ in the sense that it is fully compliant with and expresses the Islamic Shariah,” which, it seems, is predicated on religious pluralism.

"No wonder the Imam is at this moment lecturing in the Gulf States on the State Department’s dime" pants the New Republic contributor. "No wonder the Bush State Department made similar use of him to win hearts and minds. He’s promoting the American social and political system. He wants to Americanize the Muslim world in the way that counts - by promoting our political institutions".

Well, good luck with that anywhere outside the few urban and westernised enclaves in the Islamic world. But it appears to me that Rauf may be doing something far more subtle: he is pointing out that Americans have made a religious cult of documents drawn up by humanists who would have been revolted by the words "In God we trust" that first appeared - with unwitting irony - on coinage in the mid nineteenth century and was made the official national motto by an Act of Congress in 1956.

I am quite sure that Rauf is fully aware that a sign over the counters of bars all over the USA reads: "In God we trust - everybody else pays cash".