Crescent of Fire

An arc of instability and conflict has seared the Islamic world, turning once peaceful communities into hotbeds of violence and bloodshed. This is in stark contrast to the rest of the globe, where the ideological and ethnic conflicts of the twentieth century have given way to a period of relative stability and growth, as the increase in human productivity, that began in the eighteenth century in the west, has moved out to other regions of the world. However, this wave of economic development appears to have missed the Islamic world, where many governments preside over corrupt and stagnating economies that provide no opportunities for advancement. A substantial portion of the Islamic world therefore faces a double punch of ideological conflict combined with economic retardation. Why have so many of these societies become so senselessly violent? What is the source of this instability and conflict? Is it just an extremist fringe, or is it simply the most prominent part of a larger and more fundamental problem? Why did it start, what is keeping it going, and how can it be resolved? How did a religion that at one time provide a framework for stability and intellectual advancement get so misinterpreted and perverted that it now instead provides a justification for the opposite? Even where there are no serious conflicts, why is it that Muslim countries seem incapable of achieving economic growth of the kind that has happened in the last few decades in Asia? Finally, and most importantly, what are the solutions? What should Muslim countries be doing in order to escape from this debilitating combination of instability and economic stagnation? This book, written by a Muslim who is concerned over the bigotry and narrow-mindedness that has gripped the Islamic world, uses a historical and holistic approach to answer these questions.