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Article: Political Islam: image and reality.
- Article from:
- World Policy Journal
- Article date:
- September 22, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 World Policy Institute. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Three, often unstated, assumptions have inspired much of the discussion in the West regarding political Islam over the last decade and a half--especially since 9/11. These are: one, that political Islam, like Islam itself, is monolithic; two, that political Islam is inherently violent; and, three, that the intermingling of religion and politics is unique to Islam. These assumptions are false. Moreover, although an argument can be made that there are a number of varieties of transnational political Islam, such transnational manifestations form a very small part of the activity referred to as political Islam. (1) There is, however, one widely shared ingredient in the mix ...