This report from the International Crisis Group considers the role of Iraq's Muqtada al-Sadr and the Sadrist movement he embodies.

France faces a problem with its Muslim population, but it is not the problem it generally assumes.Paradoxically, it is the exhaustion of political Islamism, not its radicalisation, that explains much of the violence, and it is the depoliticisation of young Muslims, rather than their alleged reversion to a radical kind of communalism, that ought to be cause for worry. 

This Carnegie paper reports on meetings held in November 2005 with representatives of mainstream Islamists groups from Arab countries and the conclusions drawn about attitudes regarding democracy and human rights.

The United States Institute of Peace released a report on Muslim American opinion, concluding that American muslims do not see contradictions between Islam and such ideals as democracy, pluralism, or political activicsm. In recent years, several national groups have made it their primary mission to reconcile all three with Islamic values.

This report on Lebanon from the International Crisis Group was prepared before the start of the present round of hostilities: it warns that deep sectarian divisions, widespread corruption, and political gridlock all conspire to make Lebanon's transition to stable democracy highly uncertain.

The Islamists' Other Weapon. Paul Marshall. Commentary. April 2005

Islamists are among the most garrulous of enemies: in a plethora of videotapes, audiotapes, declarations, books, letters, fatwas, magazines, and websites, they have explained their actions repeatedly and at length. Each bombing or other atrocity seems to be accompanied by the equivalent of a press kit, attempting to justify the action in terms of Islamic teaching and history. The goal of these extremists, as they have announced again and again, is nothing less than to restore a unified Muslim ummah (community), one ruled by a new caliphate, organized to wage jihad against the rest of the world, and, above all, governed by what they regard as the immutable divine law declared by God to Muhammad - the shari'a...

Saudi Arabia is in the throes of a crisis, but its elite is bitterly divided on how to escape it. Crown Prince Abdullah leads a camp of liberal reformers seeking rapprochement with the West, while Prince Nayef, the interior minister, sides with an anti-American Wahhabi religious establishment that has much in common with al Qaeda. Abdullah cuts a higher profile abroad -- but at home Nayef casts a longer and darker shadow.

In Vartan Gregorian's new book, the author contrasts the problematic and generalized depiction of Islam by the Western media with the reality of a diverse following that encompasses more than a billion people. Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, surveys 1,400 years of Islamic history.

Gerson, who joined the Council as senior fellow on July 31, will author a book on the future of conservatism, and speak and write on issues such as global health and development, religion and foreign policy, and the democracy agenda.

Steven Cook inspects the role of Islam in Egyptian, Turkish, and Tunisian society and culture.

Ed Husain writes, "Boston will not be the last homegrown terror attack. Bombastic statements and burying our heads in the sand do not prepare us for future attacks."

Elliott Abrams examines the recent upswing of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel activity in Scandinavia.

Ed Husain argues, "Russia should see that unless Assad gives way, the opposition will become more radicalized and increasingly jihadi."

Steven A. Cook says Mohamed Morsi's victory in Egypt's presidential election puts Islamists in control an office that was once the exclusive province of the military, but asks whether Sunday's Tahrir Square celebration was premature.

Isobel Coleman argues that the dissolution of parliament and the upholding of Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq's candidacy for presidency have immediately strengthened the hand of the "old guard" at the expense of the Islamists in Egypt.

Isobel Coleman says the Egyptian elections are a roller coaster, and what the role of Islam will be in a new Egypt is uncertain.