THE WEST ISLAM AND ISLAMISM pdf download

The West Islam and Islamism Is Ideological Islam Compatible With Liberal Democracy

THE WEST ISLAM AND ISLAMISM

This book aims to encourage reconciliation and mutual understanding between Islam and the West.

As the authors acknowledge, to speak of the West is not to describe a uniform tradition of thought.

The West has been torn between authoritarianism and democracy and between totalitarianism and liberalism.

 There were times during the last century when the triumph of democracy and liberalism were by no means certain.

And, if we go back further still in Western history, Christianity itself was bitterly divided in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries between Catholic and Protestant.

However, if Lord Acton is to be believed, this conflict taught people ‘to treasure the liberties of others as their own, and to defend them for love of justice and charity more than as a claim of right’.

 In political terms, our ancestors learned that it was only by limiting the powers of government that religious freedom could be assured.

The bargain was that all religious sects agreed to abide by the law of the land, on the understanding that none would try to use the powers of the state to persecute opponents or to punish members of their faith who wished to leave.

 Once this basic loyalty to the nation was accepted, people of all faiths were free to lead their lives according to the ideals they cherished most.