Introduction

This book seeks to offer an interpretation of how terrorism has become a tool of Muslim radicals and why it is completely at odds with the teaching of Islam. It claims that terrorism has nothing to do with Islam as a religion but the evolution of Muslims, especially in the past one thousand years, has created an environment in which fanaticism, radicalism and violence can nourish.

Background and Context

Supported by double standards by Western powers and active backing for corrupt governments and groups, Islamic terrorism came into being. It presents an overview of how Islamic thought in many parts of the Muslim world has become rigid and frozen—and grounds for hoping that change in that thought may come, from a perhaps surprising place.

Call for Reform and Dialogue

It suggests the role that both Muslim and Western societies have played and will continue to play in contributing to reforming Islam. Our purpose is not to provide a thorough proof of our ideas, but to spark discussion and dialogue, both in Muslim and non-Muslim communities (and, ideally, between the two) as to how Islam can regain in world thought and civilization the honored place it had during the Golden Age of Islam.