Islamic Identity: Myth, Menace, or Mobilizer?

From the Iranian Revolution in 1978 to Osama bin Laden today, the spread of Islam globally has been a major concern in the West. 1 Increasingly, this fear has been expressed as an impending civilizational clash 2 and the consequent need for protection against Islamic rogues and radicals who threaten the security and values of liberal democracy and global capitalism. At the core of such arguments is the notion that the spread of Islam as a religion entails a growing transnational Islamic identity that can mobilize the Islamic world against a number of "others": the West, secularism, liberal democracy, and modernity in general. At first glance, the evidence seems startling. The Iranian revolution, Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) activities in Algeria, the Islamic Resistance Movement's (HAMAS) mobilization against Israeli occupation, Mohammed Zia ul-Haq's regime in Pakistan, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the opposition of Muslims worldwide (including in Great Britain) 3 to Salmon Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden's militant following--all clearly indicate a growing political trend.