Last week CNN's lesbian commentator Sally Kohn shared her expertise in Islamic theology in response to Donald Trump's call for “extreme vetting” of anyone attempting to enter the United States who might subscribe to sharia law. She tweeted, "Hey @realDonaldTrump, many *progressive Muslims* -- the ones we should support in ideological fight against extremism -- believe in Sharia!!"
Needless to say, this willful blindness on her part drew lots of social media fire from critics wondering just what progressive aspects of sharia she might have been referring to. Undaunted and stubbornly ignorant, Kohn has now doubled down on her defense of Islamic law.
As Mediaite reported today, Kohn posted a column called, “Trump doesn’t understand what Sharia is.” Insisting that “understanding the truth about Islam is the best way to fight extremism within it,” she explained what Sharia really means and how it accommodates progressive values. Are you ready? "In short," Kohn sums up,
"there is a difference between personal, spiritual Sharia and the political incorporation of Sharia into law. And within both, there are progressive interpretations as well as more fundamentalist conservative interpretations. So the word Sharia doesn’t mean one thing."
Ah, the old "sharia doesn't mean just one thing" defense, which one hears frequently from the progressive apologists for Islam, both Muslim and non-Muslim. Sharia is anything Muslims want it to be, the suspiciously vague explanation goes. It's different for different cultures and different Muslims within each culture, and therefore not necessarily a bad thing, so we shouldn't fear it:
Sadly, the fact that there are many interpretations of Sharia, just as there are many interpretations of Jewish and Christian moral codes, gets lost in the weeds of right-wing generalizations and fear-mongering.
By the way, did you notice what she did in that quote above, linking the word "conservative" to "fundamentalist," as if American conservatives are, as the Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas put it in a book title, American Taliban? That's a flat-out lie, considering that it is American conservatives who are battling Islamic fundamentalism and American progressives like Kohn and Moulitas are aiding and abetting it.
Islam's not the problem, Kohn goes on to insist -- extremism is. "Meanwhile, tolerant, democratic, pluralistic Muslims across the United States and around the world -- including, yes, feminist, pro-gay, progressive Muslims -- are following interpretations of their faith that we not only shouldn't sideline but should actively encourage."
No offense, Sally, but until your feminist, pro-gay, progressive Muslims stand up to the fundamentalists and are able to rebuke their interpretation of sharia theologically and legally, we'll side with Trump on this.