In the contemporary political discourse where Muslims are often portrayed as uncompromising and adversarial to the West and where bans and walls are deemed necessary to keep them out, this story about flexible and creative Muslims is an important one to tell.
And while others would identify as Muslim, they were flexible about core Islamic precepts such as praying five times a day or abstaining from alcohol.
While Iran's Shia population may be flexible about such imagery, Sunni Muslims elsewhere are not.
Muslim nationalism, by contrast, has sought to replace "historically embattled Republican borders" with "more flexible Ottoman imperial boundaries" and to "privilege Muslim identity and culture over race".
Putin should open dialogues with local minorities, mostly Muslim, and be far more flexible and imaginative.
Islamic law allowed much more flexible partnership arrangements than Christian customs, giving Muslim regions a commercial advantage.
A majority of Muslims surveyed think the religion is flexible, with only about a third saying there is but one true way to interpret it.
