"Islamist" or "Islamic"? The Difference is Huge.

"Islamist" and "Islamic" may sound similar but the difference between them is huge -- and carries profound policy implications. Beyer Family Fellow Soner Cagaptay, the director of the Institute's Turkish Research Program, explains the meaning and significance of these important terms.
Explore Dr. Cagaptay's writing on this subject:
Muslims vs Islamists: Islamism is not a form of the Muslim faith or an expression of Muslim piety; it is, rather, a political ideology that strives to derive legitimacy from Islam.
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Please, Call Us Islamic: Islamophobia is rising in the West because so many of us confuse Islam with Islamism. This confusion also inadvertently helps organizations like al-Qaeda.
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Are Muslims Islamists? Conflating Islam with Islamism has sparked a dangerous discourse in which the majority of Muslims, who are not Islamist, bear the brunt.
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