Foreword: Of Theology and Diplomacy

Western foreign ministers and secretaries of state may have to learn a little theology if the looming clash between embattled elements both in the West and in the Muslim umma is to yield to disengagement and peaceful coexistence, to say nothing of fruitful collaboration. If al-Qa‘ida is a Muslim movement with military designs both on the umma itself and on the West, then it must be understood, in the first place, for what it is—namely, a deviant form of a major world religion and not simply a latter-day species of organized crime. To say this is not to dignify