How do amercian muslims reconcile the lesser jihad with the non-establisment clause?

Here's my limited understanding:

Lesser jihad (referring, I imagine, to martial jihad) can only be
enacted under the caliphate. The just legal authority of the muslim
community can institute jihad (in offense). Since there is no such
ruler today, and since the US is not a muslim country, it's sort of a
non-issue. Not to mention that by the shari'ah, muslims living in
non-muslim countries are bound by shari'ah to respect and follow the
laws of that land. If any of those laws operate counter to the
shari'ah on issues where no compromise can be made, the muslim must
leave that country (rather than break the laws of that land or
compromise on the shari'ah).

Of course, the establishment clause refers to the actions of
<i>government</i> and not of the citizens. A good resource online for
this issue is the <a href="http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/">First
Amendment Center.</a>

And of course, the general idea fits in nicely with the much quoted
verse in the Qur'an stating that there is "no compulsion in religion."
Found at 2:256.

Hope this holds you over some until an official google answerer can come along.

Salaams!

Tapemonkey,
can you expand and reference your statement: " ... that under the
shari'ah, muslims living in non-muslim countries are bound by shari'ah
to respect and follow the laws of that land. ..."
I am not questioning your statement, jsut very interested in it, since
where I live we have a couple of million muslims, and some
counter-cultural problems, and this is an insight - and maybe an
answer to them - that I haven't heard or read.
Many thanks,  myoarin

Hmm, I wish I could expound on it. Not being a scholar I can't really
speak of my own self, so I repeat what I've heard other more
knowledgeable people say. On many occasion Shaykh Hamza Yusuf has said
that (go to http://www.zaytuna.org and
http://www.alhambraproductions.com for more on Shaykh Hamza). I
imagine (speculation here) that he got that teaching from one of his
teachers, Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah, who is an expert in the legal
issues of muslims living as minorities. I'm sure at that alhambra
productions site they'd have a set about that issues (muslims as
minorities) which would cover your question to even more depth than
you might want (or maybe not, I haven't heard it).

Beyond that, I can't be much help, unfortunately.

Hey, thanks for replying and the references.  Will check them.  I
found a speech by an Islamic noteworthy speaking to Muslims in USA,
but he did not come out and say they should leave if tehy couldn't
abide by US law.
Also found that in Canada they have accepted that Muslim
arbitrators/mediators could settle pure intra-Muslim matters that did
not conflict with Canadian law.
Whether this (two years old now) could allow "coercing" girls to marry
someone chosen by their parents ...?
Anyway, thanks again.

I understood the lesser Jihad to be "striving to live in an community
run by Islamic law" .  And that it was mentioned in the Koran (before
the caliphate was created).

But I might be way off.