No subject

   Quoted:

     Hi Dean,

     First of all, I agree with your comments and overall views on the
     right wing and Islam. I came across your "calling out Michelle
     Malkin" post by accident, but read it all. You are right.

     I was only disappointed (to get right to the nitty gritty) that you
     first said opposing Muslims is like opposing Southeast Asians, for
     example, and then immediately getting Southeast Asia wrong. You
     would be very surprised to find a mosque in Cambodia? Be prepared
     to be surprised a few hundred times.

     Islam is extremely important in Cambodian history, and there are
     many dozens, probably a few hundred mosques there. Again to be
     brief, Islam came to Cambodia through the Cham people. They were
     targetted by the Khmer Rouge, a huge percentage was killed and
     others became refugees, chiefly to Malaysia.

     But the Cham have revived and are very active in the national life,
     including politics. Their population centre is very near Phnom
     Penh, which has several mosques of its own.

     You may know somewhere in the back of your head that Indonesia is
     the world's most populous Muslim country. Islam is a hugely
     important religion in Southeast Asia, and no country is without an
     important and vibrant Muslim community, including many, many
     mosques.

     The Cham, by the way, are important in Vietnam as well. Thailands
     very different Muslim groups come from Java (the South), conversion
     (Bangkok) and China and India (Chiang Mai). Chinese Muslims, who
     dominate the northwest, are from central Asia/Persia.

     Alan Dawson Thailand

     p.s. The Muslim population of the US is generally estimated at
     roughly 7 million, well over double the 1 percent you quote.
     Obviously the base is small and skews the numbers, but Islam *is*
     the fastest growing religion in the United States.

     p.p.s. My chief researcher Mr Google informed me in 0.32 seconds
     that the Muslim Association of Iceland (only for Sunni Muslims) had
     341 members in 2005. Now the MAI claims that there are 700 to 1,000
     Muslims in Iceland.

   My response:

     Hello Alan. First off I hope you realize I get over 100 emails a
     day, which is the only reason I'm only answering your 2 weeks
     later.

     I don't think I got southeast Asia wrong actually. I just did not
     feel that getting into Islam in that region was productive in that
     discussion. I am well aware that a LOT of people in that area are
     Muslim. Historically my guess is that this is because of the Mongol
     Empire, but I haven't traced it. Anyway, I'm fully aware that it's
     there. I wasn't aware just how big it was in Cambodia (which is
     after all a pretty small country) but I am not in the least
     surprised to hear that it is or was once popular there. I certainly
     know about Indonesia, which is both the largest Muslim country in
     the world AND the largest Muslim democracy in the world. I have
     written about this many, many times actually--just search
     deanesmay.com on "indonesia" and you'll see that I've posted a
     boatload about it, including the horrible problems they're having
     right now with Salafists and other radicals.

     On the other hand: your estimate of 7 million Muslims in the US is
     highly questionable. The US Census Bureau has never attempted to
     answer this question (which would be definitive) and other
     estimates are, frankly, guesstimates. And they also get into tricky
     territory. Just for example, are members of the Nation of Islam
     really Muslims by the standards most Muslims would recognize? My
     guess is no, that most mainstream Muslims would consider them odd
     American cultists. But others would disagree. The source of my
     guess of 1% comes from Zogby, who is a non-Muslim Arab but a
     respected American pollster. Groups like CAIR like the bigger
     numbers, but they have political reasons for preferring bigger
     numbers.

     My reading leads me to believe it's only a couple of millions,
     which would put my 1% figure as roughly correct. But please educate
     me if you think you've got stronger numbers.

     And let me be clear: I live in an area with a high concentration of
     Muslims (very near Dearborn, MI) and do business with Muslims
     semi-regularly. I also have two Muslim co-bloggers. None of that
     makes me an expert of course but should immunize me against any
     claims that I am somehow trying to marginalize this community. I
     also have many friends in the gay community but have long
     questioned the figures of some gay rights groups who claim that 1
     in 10 Americans are gay, when most of the best data I've seen puts
     them at a more realistic-seeming 2-3%.

     I'll probably reprint our correspondence by the way, but not if you
     strongly object, and I will otherwise obscure your email address
     unless you prefer otherwise.

     Dean

   After further correspondence with John, he agreed to let me reprint
   this useful exchange.