Abstract

The past 75 years have witnessed the appearance in the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere of political parties and other formal organizations with Islamic agendas. The last 30 years have been especially active in this regard. Events from the Revolution of 1978–9 in Iran to the attacks on New York and Washington of September 11, 2001, have led some to conclude that the United States and European nations are on a collision course with Islam, the religion of one-fifth of the world’s population. Although the view of a monolithic Islamic threat ranged against the West is problematic, not least because it ignores the diversity within global Muslim communities and many fruitful relationships that exist between Muslims and non-Muslims, it is true that Muslim populations around the world are exhibiting heightened religiosity, oftentimes within the context of doctrinally and socially conservative organizations and mass movements.