In his 1996 book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order, Harvard University political scientist Samuel P. Huntington posits that the basic sources of conflict in today’s world have cultural rather than political or economic roots. He argues that “the fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.” He goes on to identify Islam and the West as “highly integrated civilizations” that will likely clash in the future. Conflict between Islam and the West was once a contest between two competing religions—Islam and Christianity. However, today frictions between them have more to do with the contrast between Islam (with its many rules and traditions governing law, society, and daily life) and secular Western values such as representative democracy, separation of religion and...