As long as the West keeps looking for anti-Islamic Muslims, it will fail. If it is waiting for Islam to be depoliticized, it will be waiting forever.

The US and its allies need to rethink their terminology, too. What, exactly, do they mean by “political Islam,” “extremist Islam,” “Islamism” or “Islamist extremism”? Do these terms include Muslims who may not follow all the rituals of the religion but still have an Islamic consciousness and certainly a strong sense of solidarity with Muslims everywhere? The world needs better ways to distinguish between the many Muslims who want peaceful change and the few who advocate violence.

The war on terrorism has been a failure because it is widely seen as a war on Muslims, with the killing of tens of thousands of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, the oppression of Palestinians, the detention without charge of tens of thousands of Muslims in the West, the surveillance of millions and the hostile public discourse against Muslims and Islam. It was clear from the beginning that if the West were to make Islam a dirty word, Muslims would turn a deaf ear to the West. It has and they have. It is, therefore, not surprising that just as a historic Muslim reformation is underway, the West is not a party to it.

Muslim Reformation

One often hears that Muslims must come to terms with modernity. In several areas, they already have. Unlike, say, the Hutterites, Muslims have shown little religious resistance to technology. Unlike the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims do not oppose blood transfusions. Unlike some evangelical Christians, Muslims do not object to stem cell research. Issues like birth control and abortion have been far less divisive in the Muslim world than in Western nations, especially the US. In Malaysia, the national Council of Fatwa, which issues periodic religious rulings to guide Muslims, has endorsed stem cell research, organ transplants and artificial insemination between husband and wife. In Islamic Iran, contraceptives are available free of charge at public clinics, and births are down to two children per woman, from 6.5 per woman during the rule of the “secular and progressive” Shah.

Democracy is taking root among Muslims, and not just in Afghanistan and Iraq under American sponsorship. More than half the world’s Muslims live in varying degrees of freedom in developing democracies. Muslims in Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, Turkey and parts of Africa have rejected politicians and parties offering only empty Islamic slogans or promising the sharia. Muslim voters generally are opting for leaders and parties who, besides addressing the bread-and-butter issues, can help them make sense of Islam in the contemporary world.