People are shocked and frightened by the behavior coming out of the Islamic world—not only because it is violent, but also because it is seemingly inexplicable. In this eye-opening new book, foreign policy expert Robert Reilly uncovers the root of our contemporary crisis: a pivotal struggle waged within the Muslim world nearly a millennium ago. In a heated battle over the role of reason, the side of irrationality won. The deformed theology that resulted, Reilly reveals, produced the spiritual pathology of Islamism, and a deeply dysfunctional culture.
Terrorism—from 9/11, to London, Madrid, and Mumbai, to the Christmas 2009 attempted airline bombing—is the most obvious manifestation of this crisis. But Reilly shows that the pathology extends much further. Delving deeper than previous polemics and simplistic analyses, The Closing of the Muslim Mind provides the answers the West has so desperately needed in confronting the Islamist crisis.
“Lucid and fascinating . . . Brilliant . . . This book serves a purpose for which we should all be profoundly grateful.”
— Roger Scruton
“Required reading for anyone who wants to understand the gravity of the jihadist threat and the the imperative of meeting it by deepening the West’s civilizational self-awareness.”
— George Weigel