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The author studies the writings of key Islamists, both traditional and modern, to determine the views that prompt radical Muslims to abhor Western influences. He finds that these spring from major differences in culture, and concludes that because Islam never experienced the European Enlightenment Islamists do not value individual freedom to the extent that the West does. Instead, Islamists believe that the state should adhere to and enforce Sharia, as reflecting the will of God, and that individuals should therefore submit to the moral principles of Sharia law.
Key Words: Ethics; Western materialism; Islamist radicals; Sharia law; Osama bin Laden; Hasan al-Banna; Sayyid Qutb; Ayatollah Khomeini; Syed Abul A'La Mawdudi; Ali Shariati; Hasan al Turabi; Rachid al-Ghannouchi; Muslim Brotherhood; Egypt; Saudi Arabia; Iraq; Iran; Tunisia; Israel.
In his classic study on The Origins of the World War, the late Harvard historian Sidney Fay noted that two sets of causes had to be taken into account when studying the events leading up to World War I. The first are the immediate causes surrounding the assassination of Austria's Archduke Ferdinand in 1914. The second are the underlying causes that can be traced back to events in the 19lh century.
Similarly, in attempting to understand the events of September 11, 2001 two sets of causes must be understood. The immediate cause, as is now well known, is Osama bin Laden's and the radical Islamist objection to United States troops in Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden saw such troops as a desecration of Muslim holy places. This is made clear in his fatwas of August 1996 and February 1998, calling for war against America and the killing of any American no matter where he or she may be found,2 and the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis. Bin Laden hoped that the September 11 attacks would pressure the United States to withdraw its troops from Saudi Arabia. However, like World War I, bin Laden's decree must be understood against the background of the belief by some prominent thinkers in the Islamic world that Western values must be rejected and that society governed under Sharia, Islamic law, is far superior to "corrupt" Western culture. When, in October 2002, Bin Laden called on the United States to accept...