In the aftermath of European colonialism, Islamic cultures have been forcibly secularized. In Egypt, secularist president Gamal Abdel Nasser (1954-1970) pursued Islamic political groups with ruthless violence. In Iraq, the secularist monarchy dismantled Shariah, ripped the head coverings off religious women, killed peaceful protesters, and secretly tortured dissenters. Like secularism, nationalistic movements resulted in extreme violence throughout the Islamic world. Western support for authoritarian secularists and nationalists has been received by Muslim populations as highly hypocritical, undermining any sense of trust that might have existed between The West and the Islamic world. As a result of this political turmoil, fundamentalist movements have gained popularity. Armstrong asserts, however, that, “The fact that Muslims have not yet found an ideal polity for the twentieth century does not mean that Islam is incompatible with modernity” (184).

Armstrong defines fundamentalism as a phenomenon that has occurred across religious traditions in response to modern societal developments, particularly the introduction of secularism. As secularist thinkers become more extreme in their ideology, fundamentalists pursue increasingly regressive social policies in an attempt to restore their religions to a “pure,” or “original” state. Muslim fundamentalism emerged in response to the violent brutality of colonial and postcolonial governments, which imposed a secular European approach to politics on Muslim populations that had considered politics a religious sphere for hundreds of years. Key Muslim fundamentalists discussed by Armstrong include Pakistani extremist Abul Ala Mawdudi (1903-1979), who introduced the notion that jihad was a central tenet of Islam, and Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966), who preached that a violent jihad should even be carried out against politicians who practiced Islam in their private lives but who committed themselves to a secular approach to politics. In Iran, the fundamentalist Shia Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1902-89) declared a fatwah against author Salman Rushdie for his book The Satanic Verses. Despite these prominent extremists, however, most Muslims continue to practice a nonviolent, tolerant form of Islam.

In the modern era, many Muslims live as members of a minority group in European societies. Westerners, Armstrong argues, treat their Muslim neighbors with a suspicion not applied to other religious groups. She claims that at the time of writing, Muslim Americans were treated more kindly than Muslim Europeans, despite an American cultural fixation on the Nation of Islam, which was made famous by civil rights leader Malcom X. In South Asia, the memory of the partition between India and Pakistan motivates continued hostility between Hindus and Muslims. Armstrong concludes that “fear and oppression have distorted the faith” (199).

Anti-muslim stereotypes in the Western zeitgeist have existed since the time of the Crusades, when Muslims were vilified as violent monsters who needed to be driven away from the Holy Land. Armstrong argues that repressive secular colonial and postcolonial politics have driven some extremist Muslim groups to behave in violent ways that confirm the preexisting biases of those inclined to treat Muslims with malice. In order to achieve a less hostile future, Armstrong argues that Muslims must be given the space to form modern governments on their own terms, and Westerners must resist the hateful ideologies that have motivated them to suppress Muslims in the past.