A veteran of 20 years of human rights research and activism, Karima Bennoune is professor of law at the University of California-Davis School of Law. She grew up in Algeria and the United States. In this hard-hitting work, the author reveals the findings of her three-year investigation of grass-roots opposition to the advance of fundamentalism in France, Egypt, Senegal, Russia, Mali, and elsewhere. The people interviewed come from all walks of life — doctors, journalists, musicians, street vendors, women's rights advocates, theatre directors — and range from devout Muslims to those with secular viewpoints.
Bennoune makes it clear at the outset that Islam and Islamism are not the same thing. The Muslims who express their views in these interviews speak out boldly against the human rights violations of fundamentalist Muslims who have waged an unending and vicious war against women who do not follow their edicts. Those interviewed affirm the humane values of Islam such as mercy, compassion, peace, tolerance, and openness. They correct false views of their religion and eschew inaccurate readings of the Qur'an.
Most helpful of all, Bennoune notes that Muslim fundamentalism is not just a security question for Westerners. It is a major threat to the hundreds of millions of people who live in Muslim countries around the world. She says, "In Algiers, Cherifa Bouatta tells me that Muslim fundamentalism 'is a deadly ideology which stands against choice, hope, change, and humanity. It represents the breaking of our countries.' "
