Can Traditionalism be legitimately seen as a “school” within Islam, or is it something that necessarily embraces all the revealed religions, something that cannot be limited to a single tradition without losing its character?
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This assertion is based on a failure to discern the difference in level between an idol and a sacred image. And, given the place of sacred icons in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, it is just as incorrect to associate “idol worship” strictly with the non-monotheistic traditions as it is to call the veneration of sacred images “idol-worship”.
It seems that some people are beginning to claim that Islam has a certain precedence over the other religions because it is “more universalist” than they are. But isn’t this a contradiction in terms? I’m reminded of a joke I used to tell when I was a leftist activist. The Left, of course, has been notorious for its factionalism; my joke, or parody, went like this: “We’re not the factionalists—they’re the factionalists!”