American foreign policy sins are numerous, and some are even unforgivable - like the invasion of Iraq, based on false accusations, which has resulted in much death and destruction. But to judge America by its neo-conservative foreign policy would be like judging Islam by what some radical, violence-prone Muslims have done around the world - it would be grossly unfair.

There is more, much more, to America than its imprudent foreign policy in the Muslim world.

America contributes to maintaining the global order and has created and sustained some of the most important institutions of the international system, such as the United Nations and the World Bank. In recent years, US foreign policy has resulted in billions of dollars of tsunami relief in Southeast Asia, earthquake assistance in Pakistan, and economic and development aid across Muslim lands. The United States is the biggest foreign aid donor to the Muslim World.

In the past, the United States has also intervened militarily on behalf of Muslims in Bosnia, Somalia, Kosovo and Kuwait.

On the domestic front, the United States is one of the best places to live on the planet, according to many. People from all over the Muslim world apply, in the millions, for visas to come to the US - even after 9/11 - in search of a better future. Yet hardly any indigenous American Muslims are seeking to migrate to predominantly-Muslim countries to improve their lives. The United States, and not any one of the fifty five Muslims nations, is the number one choice of Muslims for permanent relocation.

I have been living in the United States since 1992, when I arrived here from India. America took in a young man from a developing nation and after eight years of schooling, graduated an active Muslim scholar who has testified to the US Senate on foreign affairs, debated Bill Clinton in person and Vladimir Putin in writing, advised Prince Charles, held prolonged chats with Sadiq Al Mahdi, shaken hands with King Abdullah and Emir Hamad bin Khalifah, and had dinner with Benazir Bhutto. This afternoon, I had lunch with the grand Mufti of Egypt, Shaykh Ali Gomaa, in a castle in the south of England. Even when I was a poor graduate student, and now as an active scholar, I have been truly living my dream.

Because of the political and religious freedoms I enjoy in the United States, I am able to practice Islam at the highest level � that of fikr, or reflection. I publish extensively, lecture and communicate my ideas widely through the media. Muslim scholars have always maintained that true happiness comes from the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge and I found this to be the case in America.

My life as a public intellectual is enabled by America's intellectual environment, its great universities and, above all, its open public sphere in which I participate wholeheartedly, without fear or hesitation.

I am neither alone nor the most important beneficiary of American culture. America has in recent years produced and/or nurtured many good and extraordinarily insightful Muslim thinkers like Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Fazlur Rahman, Ismael Farruqi, Khaled Abou el Fadl, Sherman Jackson, Asma Afsaruddin, Sohail Hashmi, Azizah al Hibri, Taha Al-Alwani, Sulayman Nyang, Louay Safi, Akber Ahmad, Maher Hathout, Abdullah an-Naim, Ingrid Mattson and Amina Wadud, to list but a few whose names come to mind readily.

America has also produced noteworthy Muslim spiritual leaders who enjoy widespread appeal, way beyond America's borders. The likes of Shaykh Hamza Yusuf are creating a uniquely American tradition in Islamic spirituality. American Muslim initiatives such as the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences have not only inspired research in the Muslim world but have become the gold standard in Muslim scholarship.

Today, one can talk about an American tradition in Islamic thinking. Like America itself, it may be short on history but it is also rich, powerful, with global reach and profound impact.

American foreign policy may have perpetrated many injustices against Muslims, but its gifts of scholars and scholarship to Islam and Muslims that has allowed Islamic thinking to re-emerge and thrive is indeed priceless.

One thing that appears to be uniquely American is this self-delusion that we're better that everyone else. As if Islamic scholarship in South Africa or any number of places does not compare to our own. Glad to hear that your stay in the US has been cozy and that you're getting to rub elbows the the elite, truly a mark of the prosperity indeed. How I wish I could pump hands with some the very people responsible for Muslim oppression. I'm not buying this. But if this newfound celebrity is doing it for you, then enjoy. I only wish Palestinian and Iraqi orphans could somehow benefit from all this.

Muqtedar is going colonial slave again. He used to be a kiss-up guy to Americans, then he became a bit Islamic after 9/11 or thereabouts and started to think "outside the box". Now he is back to kiss-up guy again. Wimpy academics, they love American universities, easy money. Lot of intellectualisation and no practical solutions to societal problems.

US foreign policy has wrecked havoc on Muslims and non-Muslims. I'm sorry but this reads more like a bad resume then an article.

Although the irony is most Muslims, given the choice, rather be at the mercy of the American military in Guatanamo Bay then any prison in any of the Muslim countries. Ha ha hah ha hahhahahah haah.

Yes, Americans do torture and rape, like everybody else, but atleast it comes out in public and they are held accountable!!!! God only knows what his "chosen people" do in their prisons in Syria and Egypt and Saudi and Pakistan.

One could fault America for hypocrisy and self-delusion all day, but until you can show someone who is better, its "mirror mirror on the wall............"

truth is that it's the US pillaging predominantly Muslim countries and not the other way around. Yes, other countries have horrible human rights records, but we don't hear these countries constantly claiming to be the exception to the rule and falunting themselves as beacons of "freedom and democracy."

>>Yes, Americans do torture and rape, like everybody else, but atleast it comes out in public and they are held accountable!!!! <<

I would say that the dregree to which the US is conducting these activities all over the world is unprecedented. Abu Ghraib, Haditha, Guantanamo are not isolated cases. This is the tip of the iceberg, just what happens to leak out. I don't see people actually being held accountable for this. Sure they make some token gestures for PR purposes, but this comes from the top.

"I would say that the dregree to which the US is conducting these activities all over the world is unprecedented."

I would have to disagree. Americans as a people are not burdened with history or with the vagarancies of non-civil society or for that matter with religious extremism in general. They are a healthy jolly people used to living the good life. The social ills they suffer are simply the result of too much abundance of wealth and easy access to worldly pleasures.

Such a people do not rape or torture out of hatred or historical reasons. The few among them who do so are out of personal problems they have from broken family environments they come from.

I would say all the bad things Americans do overseas have an almost reluctant aura to them, driven by psychotic CIA types who are basically children that never grew up and think it is all a game. It is like the helmeted midget in the movie "Mad Max and the Thunderdome." Causing mayhem sitting atop the giant beast, but once the midge falls down off the beast and they break open the helmet, instead of an evil witch, they find a gargling child underneath who meant no harm whatsoever, but was just having fun.

You can hardly feel revengeful or angry towards the child after all is said and done. One is forced to look up at the heavens and wonder why did all this power end up in the hands of this child. And the irony is perhaps, that it is safest with the child then with any of the "adults" around (Russia being an excellent example).

All this I am talking about Americans in general and the military people as well. The problem is with the politicians and top military brass (also political appointments basically). Being an industralized country bereft of any real ideological or religious backbone, it is natural the political class will be corrupt, pretensious, self-absorbed. It is the nature of things.

And perhaps some of the adults (Israel) have basically befriended these politicos and therein lies the problem of Americans vis-a-vis Muslims.

Iqbal said: "fitna'e millat'e bayza hai imaamat us ki --- jo musalman ko salaateen ka parastaar karay"

Although Mr. Khan can understand Urdu but, for the benefit of others, here is my attempt of translation:

"the leadership of those is a cause of division for community --- who make Muslims fan/enthusiast of rulers/elites"

Salam, while its no good for any individual to think they themselves are better than other individuals soley out of race or nationality, I think it is true that our system is currently the best (american, if anyone was confused by what I mean when I say "our"). Liberalism has made life many times better for Europeans and Americans than it could have been otherwise. Our system probably will not work in some other cultures, but Japan has done it, China is moving in that direction and so it most of the world...except Muslims.

As for pillaging Muslim countries, the price of oil is at historic heights, so if someone is doing any pillaging of Muslim economies, its more likely to be thier own elites, since the lat time I filled up my tank, I sure didn't feel like a pillager...

>As for pillaging Muslim countries, the price of oil is at historic heights, so if someone is doing any pillaging of Muslim economies, its more likely to be thier own elites, since the lat time I filled up my tank,<

America's continued destabilization of the Middle East is what drives the prices of oil up. The ruling elites of the Arab world tend to be western installed autocrats with little support from the populace. Its a symbiotic relationship. Are you aware of the the record profits made by US oil companies? You may be getting screwed at the pump but far less so then the peoples of the region who are losing their lives daily. Then theres Iran.
Pillaging does begin to describe the sheer hell inflicted on the people of Iraq, their oil fields are being divided up by US oil conglomerates even as I type. Go Resistance!

" My life as a public intellectual is enabled by America's intellectual environment"

Everything in this article is a matter of healthy debate but this statement I quote above. I have a problem with people calling themselves "intellectuals" especially when nearly everything I read of such self-proclamatory individuals is rather stale. Read the list of articles Mr. Khan has produced on his site and this page, and tell me if the titular "intellectual" status is ridiculous or not. I do not mean to pick on Mr. Khan, but really . . . . If this true, then the "intellectual" pool of Muslims is shallow, and because of that the Hirsi's and Irshad's and [fill in] steal the day.

"Americans as a people are not burdened with history or with the vagarancies of non-civil society or for that matter with religious extremism in general."

There are places and times with better histories and places and times with worse, but the above remark reads more like the American ideological self-imagery that's put forth in really basic grade school accounts of history ("first we escaped religious persecution in Europe, there were some issues with Indians, slavery was a black mark, but then World War glory and the civil rights movement!") than anything resembling reality.

I think Americans as a civilization or society have had it quite easy compared to most places on earth. I don't see too many scars left behind by slaves, red indians, the civil war or for that matter the world war. Due to the geographical isolation and abundance of natural resources, there has been very little foreign intervention in a cloistered American society. A walk in the park is how I would describe these issues.

"America's continued destabilization of the Middle East is what drives the prices of oil up."

I would have to disagree with the general thesis that Americans are the root cause of all evil in oil-producing countries. Firstly, if you really want to get rid of the so-called stooges of the West from your midst, it can be done. Khomeini and Chavez are two names that come to mind. You just need to have the collective will ;------) thats all.

But if the entire country is used to sitting on is fat a*** and living off the oil wealth, instead of producing anything of real value, naturally its not going to happen. Countries that "produce things" generally do not have to become enslaved to stooge regimes.

Secondly, as they say, it takes two to colonize a foreign country. The colonizer and the local thug who back stabs his own fellow countrymen to help the colonizer. Like hunters in the wild, few colonizers have the willpower to overtake a foreign land by force against the wishes of the entire local populace. Its cheaper to buy whatever they have that is so precious in such cases.

>I would have to disagree with the general thesis that Americans are the root cause of all evil in oil-producing countries.<

Thats not the thesis of my statement. There is little doubt that the attack and invasion of Iraq destabilized the region and shot oil prices up. If the US attacks Iran, good luck finding oil at even $100 per barrel.

>Firstly, if you really want to get rid of the so-called stooges of the West from your midst, it can be done. Khomeini and Chavez are two names that come to mind.<

Easily said then done. Khomeini and Chavez are exceptions to the rule, and It were very lucky.

>But if the entire country is used to sitting on is fat a*** and living off the oil wealth, instead of producing anything of real value, naturally its not going to happen. Countries that "produce things" generally do not have to become enslaved to stooge regimes.<

The same can be said of the US which stopped being a manufacturing economy over 25 years ago. Its political, financial and military are no longer under its own control. US style liberalism is hardly welcome in the world and its currency is only being kept afloat thanks to Japan and China.

Insofar as Oil, lets face it, Muslims (or Arabs or what have you) have little or no use for oil, they are a backward people (materiallistically speaking that is). Its just annoying black goo oozing out of the ground to them.

But for Americans, oil is black gold. It is the lifeblood of their lifestyle. So you have a situation here where one man's unwanted puss is another man's cure-all ointment. Naturally, there is going to be some strange happenings in such an imbalanced relationship.

The Americans will want the good cheap, they are doing all the work in getting it. The Arabs are confused what to do, its free money. All of a sudden these stupid idiots are driving SUVs instead of camels. Is all quite comical actually. Except for the butchering of the common folk in between.

And as for the American economy. They do produce things, Cars, Airplanes, High-end tech stuff, Bombs, Boats and all kind of stuff. Movies, TV shows, music, fashion, these are produced goods in a way.

They are just not very good at producing stuff, because they are fat and individualistic, something that does not lend well to manufacturing. Which requires teamwork and hardship. Which is why Americans tend to limit their manufacturing to sectors they can politically control and prevent competition in, such as military hardware.

The disturbing part of the American economy of course is the debt and prospecting. The stock market is like a giant casino, people are buying and selling future revenues before they happen. People buy and sell commodities from all over the world before they are even harvested. Causing price fluctuations and all kinds of havoc.

And the debt, everybody lives beyond their means. Its like a giant sucking pond that sucks in goods from all over the world for the fat Americans to consume. How long will this last? Allah only knows. But the world runs on the consumption of the fat and happy irresponsible Americans.

Were they to become responsible and austere consumers, the world economy would collapse. Its kind of like you hate them and revile them, but they pay for your produce. If they were not pigs, you'd be starving yourself. Ha ha ha hha ha h aha.

Which is also the reason I am quite scornful of the so-called "American-Muslim intellectual tradition" with names like:

"Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Fazlur Rahman, Ismael Farruqi, Khaled Abou el Fadl, Sherman Jackson, Asma Afsaruddin, Sohail Hashmi, Azizah al Hibri, Taha Al-Alwani, Sulayman Nyang, Louay Safi, Akber Ahmad, Maher Hathout, Abdullah an-Naim, Ingrid Mattson and Amina Wadud"

All these people have little to offer in terms of curing the ills of the suffering fatty Americans. They are just here to enjoy the piggy lifestyle themselves.

Good lord, Hajibaba! I don't know whether to laugh at your simplistic, snarky, and sarcastic comments or cry!
That was an entertaining analysis nevertheless.

Ah,yes, so many of these comments reflect shallow thinking matched only by the depth of vincible ignorance, or caused by the same. Brings to mind the wisdom of some ancient or another that "Liberal democracy and market economy are perhaps not the best system for humans to manage their affairs. But, no one has come up with a better one.", at least not in these pages. In what Islamic country could Mr. Khan write and say the things he has, and be paid, rather than supressed?

>In what Islamic country could Mr. Khan write and say the things he has, and be paid, rather than supressed?<

Ah yes, the typical extremist response to differing points of view. Ask the Dixie chicks about censorship and suppression. The better question is who would be daft enough to publish such fawning pro-US nonsense.