Daniel Pipes

Daniel Pipes is the author of numerous books and articles on Islam and the Middle East, including Militant Islam Reaches America. In his writings Pipes makes a distinction between the traditional religion of Islam and Islamic fundamentalism (or “Islamism”), which Pipes describes as a totalitarian political ideology that rejects all Western influences and embraces a strict adherence to sharia (Islam’s holy laws). The following viewpoint was first published shortly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, at a time when many Americans, including President George W. Bush, were affirming the patriotism of American Muslims. Pipes argues that Muslims differ from other religious groups in that a substantial minority of Muslims in America are Islamists who seek to transform the United States into a Muslim nation. Pipes concludes that Americans must...