How can we constructively oppose this essentializing impulse in ways that do not simply reinforce it by cultivating its opposite: namely, the image of the Muslim as “friend,” as a figure identified with the Self, characterized as familiar, and with whom legitimate conflict is not possible? This image, too, is impervious to nuance, and it can be coercive when applied to Muslims, who might have differences—with non-Muslims and fellow Muslims alike—they think are worth asserting and maintaining. When “friendship” is subordinated to the demands of sameness, whether conceived in national or human terms, it can be just as coercive, just as prone to misrecognition, as the sentiments of hostility it is meant to correct.

XREF: The critique of the 'friend' as coercive opposition echoes themes in Edward Said's orientalism and contemporary debates about positive stereotyping and model minorities. Builds on: "Positive regard for Islam can itself hinder Muslim inclusion."

Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ Th…, loc. 701