Islam is by definition political. In fact it is quietist/non-political Islam, not Islamism, that requires explanation, which the author gives--calling it an historical fluke of the "short-lived era of the heyday of secular Arab nationalism between 1945 and 1970".

Hayri Abaza argues that the failure to distinguish Islam from Islamism leads many in the West to equate the two; they think that by supporting illiberal Islamic (Islamist) regimes, they are being respectful of Islam, to the detriment