What Makes a Muslim Radical?

John L. Esposito, professor of religion and international affairs at Georgetown University, has teamed up with Dalia Mogahed, executive director of Muslim studies for Gallup, to study the perspectives of "radical" and "moderate" Muslims in several countries. On the basis of a comparison of the views of 9,000 Muslim respondents who thought the 9/11 attack was justified ["radicals"] and those who thought it was not justified ["moderates"] Esposito and Mogahed have discovered that, contrary to popular wisdom, "radicals" are better off than "moderates," and expect to be better off in the future; they are better educated than "moderates," and are not more "hopeless" than the moderates. The difference between them seems to be that radicals tend to feel that the West threatens and attempts to control their way of life whereas "moderates" are more eager to build ties with the West through economic development.
Esposito has been vilified by the far right for his efforts to explain what the Muslim world is like. I hope his work will be looked at carefully but chances are that, as usual, this report will be read as just another attempt to mitigate Bush's fabricated "war on terror".
RLC