Martin Luther In Riyad

In today's Wall Street Journal Bret Stephens argues that the Islamic world is "inching toward a reformation (Subscription Required). It is an interesting article. He suggests that a decade ago the ferment in this part of the world was at the edges but there is the beginning of a movement in the centers if the Islamic world that is beginning to question the extreme interpretations of the imams and other fanatics. The premier Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis commented (and it is repeated in the article) that muslims often asked "who did this to us?" as a way of responding to the tragic events and circumstances in large parts of the muslim world. Now, according to Stephens, people are beginning to ask "What did we do wrong?"

Part of those questions have come from the increased numbers of random attacks that the fanatics have mounted against those who are not pure enough. At some point one wonders how much people of faith are willing to give up their own beliefs to lunacy. Stephens describes this as an intial step. But it is a hopeful one.

This is the third column this month that Stephens has penned in this general area. Soon after Al-Zarquawi was killed he wrote an interesting piece on what might happen next. He argued there that Al-Zarquawi could well have been a liability to AlQuaeda. Then in early June he wrote a piece on how to deal with the Muslim Brotherhood. In that he wrote about an Egyptian politician who figured out that the "people want services" - that ultimately government must be able to do some things. All three articles are worth reading.