"Myth or reality" by John l. Esposito

Essay by venusshell420University, Bachelor'sA+, December 2003

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In the world many people in America see Islamic and western

governments as opposite sides of a political collision course. The book Islamic Threat,

Myth or reality by, written by John l. Esposito, and published in 1992 by The Oxford

University Press, mainly discussed Middle Eastern history and many misconceptions that

have and can lead to future problems. The Middle Eastern history discussed in this book

is very accurate in compassion to the course.

One of the main things Esposito discusses is the misuse of the word

Islamic Fundamentalist. It's misused because Islamic Fundamentalist refers to either

someone who wants to bring back the fundamental beliefs of Islam or if you interoperate

the Koran literally as the word of God. An Islamic Fundamentalist is also a person who

wished to replicate Islamic past. To see it this way categorizes many fundamentalist in

the wrong sense that people in the west use the word.

A lot of times people of the west

use the word to mean people of organizations, who are politically active, extreme,

Fanatical, a terrorist or Anti - American. Most Islamic Fundamentalist are none of these

Few individuals in the middle east whish to return to or replicate the past, many people

regarded as Islamic Fundamentalists are actually very modern. Most of the views of the

west towards the Middle East are clouded by their idea of Islamic Fundamentalist and

Terrorism.

This book is also about the misunderstanding of Islamic Organizations.

Much of the recent spread of Islam is due to modern Islamic Organizations, not Islamic

Fundamentalists. They have been focused on by western governments and Islamic

government as well. This is because the Islamic governments realize that some of them

will do anything necessary to get what they want. Most westerners see all of these

originations or...