Why does the West find the fact that Islam is inseparable from politics threatening?
written by: Knut Bültemeier, 13-Oct-03 Security can be defined as “freedom from threats to core values”. However, this freedom cannot be defined clearly since the freedom from threat is a subjective concept. The interpretation is always influenced by numerous factors such as the cultural perspective and the power structures associated with it. Nevertheless, Islamic militancy as displayed by the attack on the World Trade Centre is clearly a threat, “it struck at the very heart of our society and attacked our fundamental values”. The fact that not all strands of political Islam condone these and other acts of terrorism does not limit the threat; it has very little impact on the subjective perception of security that is shaped by extremists and their actions. At the heart of the attack on all western value systems is the fundamental difference between secular systems in the west and the utopian Umma that is at the core of most of the new extremist militancy. As The Economist phrases it, “
