In 1932, the eminent British scholar of Islam, Sir Hamilton Gibb, wrote: ""The nobility and broad tolerance of this religion Islam], which accepted all the real religions of the world as God-inspired, will always be a glorious heritage for mankind. No other society has such a record of success in uniting, in an equality of status, of opportunity, and of endeavor, so many and so various races of humanity."" (Whither Islam?)
Such scholarly objectivity towards the tolerance which has historically characterized the Islamic tradition as a whole is in short supply these days. Through an...