The recent departure of Parvez Ahmed from CAIR's Board of Directors and his leadership post was just noted by my fellow blogger- Left Coast Conservative.
In the Florida Times Union piece, Jeff Brumley cites Dr. Ahmed's grievances over CAIR's lack of appeal to "less religious Muslims" and youth. He also criticizes their grievances as always appearing anti-American.
If Dr. Ahmed had cited disagreement with the Islamist ideology of his co-directors at CAIR I would have taken note. If Dr. Ahmed had cited CAIR's inability to name terrorist organizations like AL Qaeda, HAMAS, Hizbullah, and others by name, I would have taken note. If Dr. Ahmed had cited CAIR's ultimate goal to implement sharia through requests for accommodation as a minority while pushing sharia law in other nations where Musilms are a majority I would have taken note. If Dr. Ahmed had cited his desire to join anti-Islamist movements and dissidents against the Islamist organizations which exist which are mainly Muslim Brotherhood front-groups, I would have taken note. But he did not.
Time will tell, what he and his fellow CAIR-departee, Ahmed Bedier in Florida do next. But from where I sit, looking at the comments he left with the Florida Times-Union, it appears to simply be a manifestation of a software upgrade for Islamists in the U.S. who are finding that their divisive agenda is failing miserably and they are looking for a way to re-tool their Islamist platform in a way which can more cunningly deceive the masses as being less divisive.
Note, Dr. Ahmed's references to the synergy of Islam with America. That is certianly the feeling of anti-Islamists. But Dr. Ahmed is no anti-Islamist. And nothing in his departure interview points to such an epiphany about the merits of the anti-Islamist Muslim stance. Until he begins to declare the need for Muslims to counter political Islam as embodied in groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and until he begins to lift up the need to separate religion from government in the Muslim mindset and keep sharia at home--I see nothing but a repositioning going on.
Simply put, some Islamists are growing unhappy with the current intransigence of the "old guard" and are upgrading to Islamism 2.0 which will be even harder for the untrained citizen to notice. But in the end. Islamism 2.0 can become 9.0 and it will still advocate for the Islamic state and not believe in secular constitutions like our US Constitution as being central in guiding government for society in Muslim majority nations.
We shouldn't let internal battles among Islamists distract us from the real contest of ideas regarding political Islam and the west to which all of these upgrades remain silent.