Imams in Morocco ready to address developemental challenges. Photo: author's own
In Western Europe, it took years of bloodshed and long religious wars to settle the contentious dispute around whether rulers should rule by the authority of God or by that of the people. It is only when consensus was finally achieved around the idea that the authority of the state ought to be located in the people, that secularization gradually took hold, forming the backbone of the emerging liberal democracies in these countries.
The same religious fanaticism that sowed the seeds for these medieval wars motivates today’s violent extremist groups, like Al-Qaeda and Daesh, in the global war they are waging in the name of God: from Chechnya to Nigeria and from Afghanistan to California going through Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Belgium and France.
