The Canadian National Post publishes an excerpt from a new book, Reflections on Islam, written by one of its columnists, George Jonas:
“Islam is one of the world’s great religions. Islamism is a radical movement of intolerance, coercion and terror. The followers of Islam are a billion faithful Muslims around the world. The followers of Islamism include Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda, Sheikh Omar and his Taliban, the nuclear ayatollahs of theocratic Iran, the militants of Hezbollah, the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria, the late Shamil Bashayev’s human bombs from Chechnya and a string of other terrorists in far-flung parts of the globe. Unfortunately, they also include some of our neighbours down the block or around the corner….
“Islamism is not Islam. The two are not to be equated. But is there something about Islam that is conducive to the formation of extremist sects and radical movements? Is Islam a Petri dish in which a culture of fundamentalism thrives? Arguably, yes.”