Islam is more than mere religion in the recently secularized Western sense—i.e., private beliefs that are largely irrelevant to public life. In contrast, Islam is an all-encompassing socio-political-religious ideology in which more radicalized Muslims emphasize jihad and the more troubling social/justice positions that to them are consistent with a faithful rendering of the Koran. When taken to these extremes, this interpretation of Islam promotes violence and conquest as legitimate means of faithful expression. Under this rendering, jihad is to Islam what evangelism is to Christianity. Conversely, there are those within the Islamic faith who vehemently oppose what they say is a perverted interpretation of the Koran. Which interpretation is correct?
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