As someone who already has a general understanding of Islam, and a passion and fondness for this faith, it is so refreshing to see someone try to put things back into perspective, especially given the fact that so many are so ill-informed about Islam and what it teaches. With so many focusing on Islam as "the enemy" merely because they don't know or understand anything more than what their preachers or newscasters have told them, its so important for someone to be the voice that nudges us out of our dazed and deluded states and brings things back into focus – Graham Fuller is that voice.

Despite whether one agrees with his hypothesis that things would have happened along the same lines without the existence of Islam (something I do believe he does well to support), one must admit how important it is that someone show us the other side of this “war with Islam” and bring us back to realizing the things that have roused the people of the Middle East into feeling and acting the way they do.

Most people don't even try to understand what breeds extremism. Do we not think that we have any responsibility in the condition of the extremism we see? This extremism isn't something that is purely religious. It is geopolitical frustrations being acted out in the name of religion, in reaction to many perceived injustices, which the author does well to show.

We need to try to understand and get to the root of the problem. As he says, determining the motivation helps us to find the solution. Until we acknowledge that they have legitimate grievances our relationship with them will never improve. Extremism is bred out of extreme circumstances. It comes from intense pressure. It doesn't just decide to pop up on its own. And its not a reflection of Islam as a whole, nor even is it the true face of Islam. So we need to acknowledging that these groups do not represent the entirety of Muslims, and work to understand why they feel so much animosity, what has driven them to this point. Just because the way they choose to express themselves isn't one we find very appropriate doesn't mean they don't have legitimate issues that need to be addressed, and the author goes well into those issues.

He does well to show us our need to understand that religion is just one ideology that is abused and used for the benefit and advancements of other causes. He shows religion not as cause of the issues/problems we see, but as a vehicle for those issues - issues that originate from other sources - and shows how the faith of Islam is being used and abused to advance these causes in spite of the actual teachings and tenants of the religion.

This shows the problems are not Islam and would exist even without Islam there to commandeer, because these issues would still exist, since the frictions and tensions we see throughout history and today have far more to do with political/geopolitical, societal, economic (etc), issues than theological ones. In a time when people want to blame all the problems on a religion they don't understand is important for someone to remind us of that. Just because these extremists use the system of ideals that is Islam for their own means in a way that completely ignores some of the major principles of the Islamic faith does not mean that Islam itself is the problem. Instead it is merely the backdrop/vehicle these geopolitical, social (etc) issues were able to erupt through, and they would have erupted even without the arrival or existence of Islam.

We need to take a step back and try to identify the real motivation, the real source of the problem, in order to understand how to handle the situation and to find a solution, rather than continue to be sucked into mere perpetuation. We need to realize our way of handling the situation isn't going to work because its not really handling said situation as long as we refuse to see the underlying issues and insist on “Islamicizing” the problem. The bridge can only come from understanding each other and our issues, their history, and effect, and we're the ones who need to take that step – as well as other steps he offers in the text.

I have to add, as I conclude, that all the facts presented within his book line up with all the other sources I've read. I didn't find one fact or historical claim made that I hadn't seen elsewhere, in other sources I hold to be credible, so I don't doubt the author's own credibility, and would recommend this to anyone who thinks they have an understanding of Islam or the “war on terror”(or anyone who wants to). It really is a must read, indeed, it is a book I'm going to refer others to often, I'm sure. :)