Reforming the Prophet

Book excerpt: Many people in the West have difficulty gaining a deeper understanding of what is going in the Middle East. The conflicts in Israel and the West Bank, for example, appear to be random when viewed solely through the lens of current media reports. Offshoots of Middle East conflicts, like the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York, can appear to have occured without reason. In this important book, well-regarded consultant and ex-policy analyst W.R. Clement proposes that these conflicts are part of a larger change underway in the Islamic world. He argues that Islam is in the early stages of a religious reformation not unlike the Protestant Reformation of sixteenth-century Europe. According to Clement, what we are witnessing is the beginning of a long and bloody religious struggle into which the West is being drawn whether it likes it or not.