Since 9/11 considerable ink has been spilt in trying to explicate the roots of Islam–West tensions. Hundreds of books have been published, numerous academic conferences have been organized and the global media has reported on this subject ad nauseam. Seizing on the importance of this theme for international relations, President Obama, during the first year of his presidency, gave several important interviews and delivered two major speeches from Muslim capitals that sought to reduce conflict between the United States and the Muslim World. The topic of Islam–West relations, however, is an old one. It far predates the terror attacks on 9/11 and the ensuing rupturing of relations which the Pew Research Centre in a major 2006 survey called “The Great Divide.” All of this begs the question: what new information can one bring to the topic that is both substantive and can add a fresh perspective to this troubled relationship?

Following 9/11 a substantial body of influential opinion believed that at root the conflict between Islam and the West was due to a fundamental clash of values. President George W. Bush famously asked, “Why do they hate us?” The answer he came up with was that “they hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.”