ABSTRACT
Muslims have wrangled amongst themselves since the dawn of Islamic history over their identity as Muslims, what that means, and how it should be manifested in the world. e previous chapters of this book have detailed many of those struggles. External pressures during those past time periods have occasionally created crisis points which have stimulated an inward search for security in the Muslim religious heritage. ose events tended to be localized, with each geographical area experiencing its own pressures and responses. e twenty-fi rst century presents a world of a diff erent character. e reality of globalization, with its components of mass and instantaneous communications and economic interdependencies, results in localized actions in the name of Islam having an impact well beyond national borders. It has also created a situation in which those actions have an impact (sometimes physical, sometimes purely emotional) on non-Muslim populations around the world. e resonances of that impact have a correlating impact on the sense of identity for Muslims themselves as they grapple with what other people think of their religion and, in some cases, how they act upon those impressions and, often, prejudices. Certainly the attention of others has its positive side too, as more interest in understanding the nature and features of Islam manifests itself. is occurs even in the face of overwhelmingly negative portraits that are encountered so frequently in the media with the “war or terror” and the repetition of the litany of events-9/11, 7/7, Madrid, the shoe bomber, the underwear bomber-that mark the era of violence in the name of Islam.
e reality of what Muslims sometimes face in the contemporary world is often encapsulated in the word “Islamophobia.” e term itself may well be misleading because its literal meaning, “fear of Islam,” is not really an accurate representation of Muslim experience. What the term does refer to, as defi nitions which expand upon the literal sense of the word make clear, is a fear-and resulting action based upon that fear-of an imaginary Islam. e imaginary Islam that provokes this fear derives from perceptions based upon misleading generalizations that are not subject to nuanced analysis. is
