Questions Answered?

The foregoing 84 posts have been an exploration of Islam, the Arab World and the Middle East essentially since a 'new' religion and prophet made central and southern Arabians and Muslims generally the ongoing historical players that they and their cultural descendents remain today. I explored the relationship of these groups to the 'West' and attempted to understand the groups based on what they believe and what they created in history. Mainly I explain how a religion became much more than a religion both for its adherents and for others. I hope I showed that these groups made worthy contributions to the world and needn't be written off as they often seem to be as a mere destructive force. The key is that historical forces and religion form each other and don't remain static. There are a few questions unanswered and I believe among them are: is there such a thing as a 'liberal' Islam or can one be made, how will the West and Arabs and Middle Easterners transform this history next and have I missed out by not examining non-Middle Eastern Muslims as closely?

Regarding "Liberal Muslims", this is the title of a work edited by Omid Safi that provides interesting examples of the views of a different kind of Muslim that I would recommend.

The Effects of Globalisation and Human Resource Issues in the Arab World and the Middle East will also answer many of these questions. The Recent History of Other Muslim Countries such as Indonesia and the Af-Pak Pashtunistan may well offer more answers.

Could we, in fact, learn from this History and the Muslims and Arabs?

Has the materialist West been able to learn anything from its struggles to emerge from colonialism relatively unscathed? Firstly we should return to the work on us (in the West) by Edward Said. The answers may be there somewhere.