ABSTRACT
The tragic events of 9/11 and the resulting conflict with the al-Qa'eda and the Taliban have created a new politically motivated discourse in which the British and the US governments have attempted to differentiate between 'terrorists' and the majority of Muslims in the world who are increasingly defined as 'moderate'. This is not only an overwhelmingly simplistic analysis of the religious and political realities of the Muslim world, it raises a number of methodological questions concerning how religious commitment is regarded in pluralistic, secular and liberal Western democracies.
