Soon after September 11, Andrew Sullivan suggested in the New York Times Magazine that Christian fundamentalism had played out and failed on the global stage during the Crusades centuries ago, but that for Islam, this particular growing pain still lies ahead. "From everything we see," wrote Sullivan, "the lessons Europe learned in its bloody history have yet to be absorbed in the Muslim world. There, as in 16th century Europe, the promise of purity and salvation seems far more enticing than the mundane allure of mere peace. That means we are not at the end of this conflict but at its very early stages."

As we try to understand the fundamentalist venom being aimed at America these days, we sometimes hear about the late-18th century Islamic movement called Wahabbism. Wahabbism is the basis of the Saudi Arabian state. It is also the basis of the "teaching" going on at thousands of madrasas (Islamic schools) in Pakistan and elsewhere, the same schools that produced the Taliban. At these schools, strict memorization of the Koran morphs naturally into hatred of America, in part for its foreign policy blunders, but also just for being America. Muhammad ibn 'Abd-al-Wahab, the religious founder of Wahhabiyya (Wahabbism), opposed any form of innovation is Islam. He took specific aim at Sufiism, the mystical movement of Islam that has produced some of the faith's most beautiful artistic expressions, including Turkey's whirling dervishes, and Pakistan's sublime qawwali music, made world famous by the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. This targeting of Sufiism alone would be enough to disqualify Wahab's philosophy in my book. But it also points to the ultimate unworkability of the approach. The image of people in Kabul joyfully listening to music for the first time in years is testimony to the folly of attempts to crush the human craving for art and beauty.

Sullivan's formulation is probably too neat. Islam cannot follow the same course as Christianity because it is a very different religion, and because its darker instincts are now playing out in a fast-moving, technological world that would not have allowed the Crusades to unfold as they did. But the idea that we are watching the maturation and development of a world religion--rather than a socio-economic or military crisis--is worth considering.

Islam's most radical voices--the spiritual sons of Wahab--are in agreement with the religion's fiercest enemies in asserting that Bin Laden and the terrorist jihad wagers are the true Muslims, and that the so-called peaceful Muslims are phonies. Long after Bin Laden is gone, downtown New York is rebuilt, the U.S. president is not named Bush, and events we cannot foresee have further altered our lives, this argument will continue. For some, the present "war" is about freedom vs. tyranny (the Bush view); for others it's about Islam vs. Christianity (the Bin Laden view); for still others, it's Israel vs. Palestine, oil-thirsty capitalists vs. the disenfranchised poor of the world, our greedy capitalists vs. their greedy capitalists. But it may turn out that the most important conflict here is really between Islam and itself.

Can the religion that produced such beautiful music and architecture reconcile itself to the world that produced free speech, feminism, and Calvin Klein? Or will it stick to those unchanging words being incanted by a million impressionable boys in madrasas? Either those boys must learn to put their Koranic education into a realistic global context as they grow up, or the religious culture war is on for a good while to come. The violence of terrorism and military assaults aside, this is a war that fundamentalist Islam cannot win. The world cultural forces allied against that narrow view are simply too great, hence the resort to desperate actions such as those we saw on September 11.

The Islamic leaders and governments of the future will have to distance themselves from certain lines and ideas found in the Koran, just as Christian leaders have done with the Bible. If they fail to do so, the apocalypse will ultimately befall the believers, not the infidels. The Dark Ages are behind us. The human spirit has been freed in too many corners of the world. Medieval thinking cannot bring the future.

Banning Eyre