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ISLAM
domination over most areas of the Islamic world, which continues in the economic and cultural fields despite the nominal political independence of Islamic countries, this type of “fundamentalism” hopes to provide a solution for the problems of Islamic society by a return to Islamic norms and practices. In doing so, however, it often adopts certain modern theses and value judgments against which it has rebelled. Its power is a reality in the Islamic world, but it is not as great as portrayed in most Western media, where all attempts to retain or return to Islamic principles and teachings are banded together as revolutionary and violent “fundamentalism.” Since the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the attempt to identify the whole of the Islamic world with the violent nature of extremism in certain Islamic countries has intensified in the Western media and the reality of the situation has been veiled because of either ignorance or political expediency and therefore the willful dissemination of disinformation. It must never be forgotten that this kind of “fundamentalism” is the other side of the coin of modernism and could not exist without it.
Modernist Tendencies Nearly every activity in the Islamic world during the past century and a half that has had a modernizing character has also possessed a religious implication. These range from the introduction of Western-inspired nationalism to the adoption