ABSTRACT
The most regressive and repressive Islamic state in the world, Saudi Arabia, is never spoken of in the same breath as the fundamentalists of Iran, Sudan and Algeria, or the anti-state Islamic movements in other countries. The rise of the Islamic movements in the Middle East and North Africa is clearly linked to the economic and political shortcomings of the secularised governments which have held power throughout the region since 1945. There is no single Islam, speaking for all Muslims in the same voice at all times, but an innumerable variety of shifting interpretations, and when Islam is presented as a threat to the West, the first task is to find out whose Islam. The ability to get away with generalised statements about 'fundamentalism' is greatly enhanced by public ignorance and the willingness to believe the worst of Arabs or Muslims.
