This text critically reassesses history to examine the long-standing notion that "Islamic affairs" are removed from, and inevitably clash with, "Western affairs". It reconsiders what Islam is and what Westernization is. The book is divided into six parts: Islam and the West, an intentional duality; a reinterpretation of the relations between the Muslim world and the West; Islam and the West, concepts of civilization; the dialetics of reason and faith; secularism and Islamism; democracy and political representation in the Islamic world; and Islam in Europe, the Islam of Europe.