Yes, that is what the author of these two books said in his interview on the Charlie Rose show - that we bring to and thus create our own version of religion that includes our social economic values and our political and community minded viewpoints as well as, local traditions.
When I was a kid and the world was not as connected I saw that played out every year on Holy Thursday - the Thursday before Good Friday and Easter Sunday - it was a tradition to visit 3 churches on Holy Thursday - Each was different including the prayers that were traditionally part of the visit - there were always, mostly kids from the church letting you know what was expected. Some had candles to light others did not, some, with more than one organist took turns playing all day, mostly sacred music indigenous to the nationality where most of the parishioners had emigrated and then, the garb worn by the priests was different since they were mostly order priests rather than diocesan priests - needless to say, what was considered sinful was a part of this mixed American and national indigenous culture.
As to Islam the more I read about the Middle East and its history the more I am aware we lump the whole area into one when it is a wide swath of land and it would be like saying Mexico, the U.S. and Canada were one cultural area with the same viewpoints, language and problems. And then to top it off we in this country have focused on the idea there is a Sunni Shia divide that is paramount; the more I read, it is the affiliations and traditional wars between tribes, their leadership, politics and traditions that if given some attention could unravel some of what is going on.
These tribal conflicts and traditions were under control for hundreds of years during the time of the Ottoman Empire and then after WWI, after the Empire foolishly aligned themselves with Germany and lost, this part of the world has been like a ship without a rudder so that strong nationalized leaders held it together till recent times when the average person, through technology, could see they were not living the good life and wanted to bring that about. Most it appears thought by going back to the way of life and traditions of the past the glory days of the past would come about which includes strong tribal affiliation - it is a shock, that is only settling in, that it is not working out.
I have been reading mostly about the Arab and Persian peoples and now I need to read how the Kurds fit into all of this. I am also picking up that what happened in Syria was not a cry of revolution from within but rather an outside group agitating the discontent - worming out anything about the beginning of the uprising takes time and work that I do not have just now. I am also seeing a difference in authors viewpoints comparing western authors, middle eastern authors educated in mostly Britain, and native authors many who were journalists.
One of the best books I have read that really lays out the goings on in Afghanistan since just before the Russians till now and written more like a good novel than a dry history is, No Good Men Among The Living: America, The Taliban, And The War Through Afghan Eyes by Anand Gopal - fabulous read.
