nt and turn to Allah’s path and who are prepared, when necessary to fight against corruption and unbelief. The method for renewal and reform of Muslim society is an Islamic political and social revolution, like the prophet Muhammad and later 18th century Islamic movements that cause an Islamic system of government and society. Besides the above characteristics, “radical Islam” assumes a kind of culture that can be summarized in the following way: A jihad mentality that pits Islam against a western Judeo-Christian conspiracy. Legitimacy for Muslim governments is based on the Shari’a. Jihad against unbelievers is a religious duty. Christians and Jews are considered unbelievers rather than people of the Book. The realization that Islam may serve as a powerful spiritual and political force or help catalyze such forces is much in our minds these days. In a large part, this phenomenon is given attention, because of the contemporary developments in the Islamic world, especially, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Libya and other Middle East and Asian countries. Throughout the Western world there is a spreading awareness that Islam is resurgent. It is accompanied, however, by a sense that this development is somehow fearsome and ominous, to say the least. Wherever Islam manifests itself politically or religiously in the contemporary world, popular Western and Christian perceptions of these developments are either distorted or antagonistic. The first contributing factor to this type of perception is the negative view associated with Islamic revolutions in Iran and Libya. The second is the whole legacy of adverse Western and Christian attitudes towards Islam since the time of the crusades. Such distortion and antagonism certainly affect the reporting about the Islamic revival which has begun in the early ‘70s. Media headlines continue to highlight the Western perceptions of fanaticism and Puritanism that ...
