Scholar and author Parag Khanna says the phrase “the Muslim world” is so broad it’s meaningless, and encourages President Obama and others to drop it.

Moneyquote: Just as there has not been any meaningful “Christian world” since the Holy Roman Empire, there has been no unified “Islamic world” since the Middle Ages. For centuries thereafter, Turks, Persians and Arabs squabbled over ideological hegemony. Sunni versus Shiite is just one of Islam’s divides today, reminding the world that the faith has no supreme authority to which all believers adhere.

By using the term “Muslim world,” we only elevate the likes of Mullah Omar or Osama bin Laden, whose rhetoric turns archaic Islamist fantasies into self-fulfilling prophecies. Speaking to all Muslims is speaking to none of them.