The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? [Paperback]

I have travelled the countries of east with overwhelming muslim population and also have a good understanding of Islamic teachings. I believe Dr. Esposito has done a wonderful job at analysing the problem of muslim uprising and I believe his knowledge is also based on his first hand experience with muslim leaders. He has painted an accurate picture of the diversity of muslim uprisings and its equally varied reasons (which I acknowledge from my experience of the muslim world). This book is in stark contrast to the fast-food styled research that most authors do by basing their work on a few CNN reports and historically polemical rumors. It is truly a book worth its money. A must read for the muslim and non-muslim alike.

****** - Six Stars This book is an excellent and un-biased coverage of the topic. It shows the maturity in authors thinking. This is not only the author's view but also a indication next wave.

We in Europe were brain-washed by media and biased litrature... now we are coming out of fog, slowly and gradually.

Author has done great effort... A job Well Done.

I hate to say this because Professor Esposito is personally a nice guy but he functions chiefly via his published writings, and particularly this book which I have read and reread at length, as an apologist for the worst excesses of political Islam. And it's a shame, because Esposito is an intelligent and articulate individual who has and acts out of a deep desire for peace between the Islamic and Judeo-Christian worlds. Because he is actuated by a desire to sooth tempers and promote peace, Esposito either consciously or more likely subconsciously ignores the more troubling rhetoric emanating from the traditional Muslim world and makes excuses for whatever speeches or party platforms he cannot in good faith ignore. Esposito, like John Voll of UNH or Abadi at the U.S. Air Force Academy are of the school that it is "bad" to honestly report the violent words and objectives of the Muslim fundamentalists. Esposito et al explain away the violent and troubling imagery employed by the fundamentalist Muslims by explaining that these speeches are driven more by internal politics and that the fundamentalist movement in all these countries (Iran, Sudan, Algeria, Egypt) can be mollified if only we in the West pumped more economic aid into these countries and increased living conditions. Not so. And I think the Muslim Brotherhood, AIM, the FIS, the Refah Party, Al-Nahda, the Islamic Rennaisance Party and others would be offended by Esposito's patronizing suggestion that they drop their anti-Western agenda for money. Esposito should take a look at Turkey, one of the wealthiest and most economically and politically advanced nations in the Islamic world and a staunch NATO ally. That country has now gone to the Islamic camp with the elevation of prime minister Erbakan who has called for "uncoupling" Turkey from NATO and the West, the formation of an "Islamic NATO" with Iran and the foundation of an "Islamic Union of States." Erbakan's election and the electoral success of the Refah (Welfare) Party in Turkey proves once and for all that fundamentalist Islam is driven by more than just poor economic conditions. Even in Egypt, the fundamentalists have successfully recruited to their cause wealthy doctors and lawyers and have captured the professional bar and most medical societies. So, the liberals' cry that radical Islam is driven by economic privation rings hollow. Esposito points to the Iranian Revolution and the fact that it has not yet spread to many other lands as evidence of the fact that there is, in his words, "no global Islamic threat." Not so. The global threat from fundamentalist Islam has just begun. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War competition means that Islam now has a chance to flourish again in the light of day without being "crowded out" of the ideological field by other competing ideologies like communism and capitalism/liberal democracy. I think conditions are auspicious for the resurgence on a grand scale of radical Islam and that we have been lulled by the last 15 years into thinking that the Iranian Revolution was the high water mark

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 9 reviews  4.0 out of 5 stars