Throughout the so-called “war on terror,” the notion of a “clash of civilization” between Islam and the West has usually been dismissed as politically incorrect and intellectually wrongheaded. Instead, the most common interpretation has been that the world has entered a new era characterized by conflict “within” a particular civilization, namely Islam, with fundamentalist Muslims as much at war against moderates as against the West.
在整个所谓“恐怖战争”时期，伊斯兰与西方之间的“文明冲突”这一概念一直因政治上不准确、知性上固执而遭到驳斥。然而，最常见的解释是，世界已进入一个新时期，其特征是一种特定文明“内部”的冲突，即伊斯兰连同原教旨穆斯林对温和主义者争战，一如对西方国家争战。