ABSTRACT
In Islam jihad suggests a standing religious obligation upon Muslims to permanent struggle for the expansion of the Faith, a position still taken by some radical Islamists today. Radicals will always exist in any society, and to justify their beliefs those radicals will turn to the highest "laws" of life and society—either to God, race, or the supposedly inexorable forces of history. Most religious movements possess uncompromising zealots who insist on total and literal acceptance of all articles of faith and harsh treatment of those who fail to observe these precepts. The problem for the West, therefore, lies not specifically in Islam but in the radical visions of all extremists within any such movement. This chapter looks at the theological question and attempts to determine the place of Islamic theology, if any, in the relationship between Islam and the West and the integration of Islamist parties into the modern political order.
