The Encyclopedia of World Religions

168 S fundamentalism, Islamic

doned God, and follow God’s ways. Some who teach Islamic fundamentalism in the West advo cate returning to Islamic lands. Others wrestle with just how to implement that insight in lands where Muslims are in the minority. WHAT WILL THE FUTURE BRING? In matters of religion predictions of the future are notoriously unreliable. It is impossible to say with certainty what the ultimate fate of Islamic funda mentalism will be. At present, however, Islamic fundamentalism is a powerful force that affects not just Muslims but the entire world. Further reading: Lawrence Davidson, Islamic Fundamentalism: An Introduction, rev. and updated ed. (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2003); John L. Esposito, Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002); Bruce B. Lawrence, Shattering the Myth: Islam beyond Violence (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1998); Bernard Lewis, The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror (New York: Modern Library, 2003); Joseph E. B. Lumbard, ed., Islam, Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition: Essays by Western Muslim Scholars (Bloomington, Ind.: World Wisdom, 2004).

a stress, unlike some other Islamic governments and groups, on honesty and responsibility to the people they represent.

REDISCOVERING ISLAM OUTSIDE THE “HOUSE OF ISLAM”

A number of Muslims now live as sizable minori ties in countries like France, Great Britain, and the United States. Islamic fundamentalism appeals to some of them, too. Many Muslims living outside the “house of Islam” wrestle with questions of identity. What does it mean to be a Muslim for someone born in the United States, for example, where C HRISTIANITY and more specifically P ROTESTANTISM has shaped so much of the public culture? For example, how can Muslims observe noon prayers on Friday, when Friday is a workday and they do not get enough time off? This question is particularly difficult when Muslims experience discrimination either from government policy, as in France, or from ele ments of the society at large, as in Great Britain. Islamic fundamentalism provides an answer to questions of identity that is particularly satisfy ing because it is clear and addresses feelings of social inferiority: Muslims must hold themselves apart from the broader society, which has aban