From The Liberal, a cover story on The Spectre of Jihad; TF Lane on the Islamist as ironist; a review of Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden, ed. Bruce Lawrence; Peter Tatchell writes in praise of Somaliland; and why have almost no African countries managed to achieve the sustained economic development which has lifted billions of people out of extreme poverty in east Asia? From New English Review, Ibn Warraq on the significance of non-Muslim evidence for Koranic studies; an article on Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, an antidote for Islamic fundamentalism; and to suggest that all forms of religion are equal, that they are all murderous and dangerous, is not to serve the cause of freedom and tolerance. An article on the strange journey of Ayaan Hirsi Ali: From devout Muslim to outspoken "feminist" critic of Islam. An interview with Gina Khan on breaking the silence. A article on the surprising truth about Rage Boy, America's hated poster-boy of Islamic radicalism. With cartoon controversies reverberating across the world, Tzvetan Todorov considers the after-effects of the Danish images. On the strange world of Eurabia: A review of While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within by Bruce Bawer; The Last Days of Europe: Epitaph for an Old Continent by Walter Laqueur; Londonistan: How Britain is Creating a Terror State Within by Melanie Phillips; and Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis by Bat Ye'or.
