lains that a civil war between nationalist, progressive Muslims on the one side and extreme Islamic fundamentalists on the other has been raging for decades. At the root of the conflict, Pryce-Jones contends, is contained "an issue of identity to which no clear answer has yet been foundà ," namely: "How exactly is a society to be both modern and Muslim?"
Akbar S. Ahmed, Pakistani professor and scholar, echoes this sentiment in his piece, "Islam's Crossroads", commenting that Muslims have consistently opposed one another on this issue of modernity, which has naturally grown more sensitive and urgent in the face of the new globalization. Ahmed reminds us that, "In Muslim society the leader embodies both political and moral authority," meaning that under Islamic doctrine, there is no separation of mosque and state, theology and government. Therefore, the issue of leadership in Muslim states is regularly a very religious one, with fundamentalist zealots seeking to purge the state of any forces considered un-Islamic. Naturally, this involves the denouncement of Western ideology, and the forfeiture of any policy that might seek to compromise with the rest of the modern world. Today, because Western ideology (and media) has grown so pervasive through globalization, "the new fundamentalist leaders," states Ahmed, hope to destroy the existing Muslim state "as a legacy of the West and then re-create it in an Islamic mold." It is a tricky dema
...