I never like to label articles "important" or "must-read" or "potato-read." But this is an important article by one of the most sophisticated and original Arab intellectuals, Sadiq Jalal Al-`Adhm. He is one of the bravest advcoates of Secularism, atheism, and feminism in the 20th century. His PhD is in Philosophy (Kant's notion of time) from Yale University. I wish his Arabic books are available in English. He retired from teaching Philosophy at Damascus University. I knew him in Beirut briefly, but got to know him when he spent time in the early 1990s at Princton and Wilson Center: "There may be intermittent battles in the decades to come, with many innocent victims. But the number of supporters of armed Islamism is unlikely to grow, its support throughout the Arab Muslim world will likely decline, and the opposition by other Muslim groups will surely grow. 9/11 signaled the last gasp of Islamism rather than the beginnings of its global challenge." (I do not necessarily agree with his his conclusions or predictions).