Islam, Fundamentalism, And The Betrayal Of Tradition is the first book to account for the religious, historical and political dimensions of Islamic fundamentalism in a single volume. It provides analysis based upon spiritual principles, rather than conjecture based political prejudices. This book provides the context necessary for a deeper understanding of important issues pertaining to Islam and the modern Middle East. It accomplishes this by explaining the traditional Islamic perspective in a contemporary language. Some essays analyse the historical background of Islamic militancy, while others address the divide between East and West, bringing into relief the pressures of modernization and globalisation which have produced an internal confusion which fans the flames of religious extremism.
Here are a few of the very important questions that this book answers concerning Islam and the West: How is the 'fundamentalism' and fanaticism of Bin Laden and others a distortion of Islam; What is the true meaning and what are the limits of 'jihad' within traditional Islam; How can so many Muslims view modern Western civilization with distrust and contempt; Why are the policy proposals that dominate the current political discourse likely to backfire; What is needed for the Islamic world and the West to move beyond the current tensions