NBA player Dion Waiters informs he is a Muslim and plans to skip national anthems

[Igel]

56. That's a non sequitur.

Point to the official definition and codification of Muslim belief that a person must subscribe to to be a Muslim. Be sure to include Shi'a and Sunni, Salafi and Sufi.

You'll find that it's not nearly as neat, cut and dried, as Catholic belief. And even then, there are a lot of people who say they're "Catholic" and who's Catholicism is taken to be authentic who don't subscribe to the official statement of beliefs and all the outworkings that have official status.

The problem is declaring allegiance and fealty to a non-Muslim power and acknowledging that non-Muslims have legitimate claims over you as a citizen. It's one thing to be a guest and abide by their rules as long as they provide protection and allow you to live a virtuous life. It's another thing to be a supporter, esp. a supporter of a government that is killing those that you consider to be more "your people" than your neighbor. For many Muslims, the ummah takes precedence over those who received lesser revelations (who aren't equals, but at least have some status) and those who have rejected all revelations and are completely apostate.

And, yes, there is no new Prophet around to declare that people who believe and do such things aren't Muslims. Have fiqh, have fatawa, will travel.

The issue isn't that he's not going to stand. That's his business. It issue is that he's decided to make it a point of public relations, to aggrandize himself and point out how wonderful and virtuous he's being in his contempt. Which, oddly, is very post-modern American.