The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 led to an upheaval in the West’s relations with the Muslim world. Many came to interpret these events as signs of a clash between Islam and Western civilisation. Explosive headlines led many to understand Islam as the cause of global terrorism. John Esposito’s book seeks to put these fears to rest by making a clear distinction between mainstream Islam and the kind of Islam espoused by extremists. But this is to over-simplify the issues. His claim that such extremists can be found in every religion tends to dismiss these attacks as the actions of a fanatical minority that does not need to be taken very seriously. Esposito’s book disregards Muslim voices calling for a critical investigation into the causes of terrorism and into the American response. It also disregards the serious questions non-Muslims are asking about the identity and purpose of Islam in the modern world.
Anyone with some personal experience of the Muslim world would be willing to admit that the word Islam itself is misleading. For there are as many Islams as there are communities of Muslims in the world. Specific historical, cultural and geographical factors have led each Muslim community to give its own peculiar stamp to the movement initiated by the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century. There is no one, monolithic version of Islam, just as there is no single authority to authenticate the teachings or beliefs of Islam. Instead, Islam is a dynamic project within history, a project that is not yet finished. Esposito’s title, Islam: The Straight Path, describes Islam in the past rather than as an evolving movement in the present. His book gives the impression that Islam is simply there waiting to be understood as a phenomenon in history.
Except to discuss several issues relevant to violence and terrorism briefly in the epilogue, Esposito’s book remains what its earlier editions were, namely (in the author’s own words), ‘essential coverage of the origins, spread, and development of Islam and its roles in Muslim societies’. As such, it is a readable and useful introduction to Islam. But the preface promises the reader that it will address ‘the key issues necessary to understand the influence of Osama bin Laden and the continued growth of extremism, questions about the relationship of Islam to violence and terrorism, the meaning of jihad, the origins of a global jihad ideology, the