According to the author, political Islam is an invaluable ally for imperialism while eliminates the real social confrontations between the popular classes and the globalized capitalist system that oppresses and exploits them, it is not the spontaneous result of the assertion of authentic religious convictions by the peoples concerned. It is fundamentally reactionary and therefore obviously cannot participate in the progress of peoples' liberation.

The author, criticising Amin, considers political Islam rather "modern" although not in the frame of the Eurocentric notion of capitalist modernity the tool traditional historic materialism uses. Anyhow, the foot soldiers of militant Islam are the dreadfully poor who have relied on Islam institutions for their very survival. It is time to desist from homogenizing the makeup of entire Muslim-majority societies as reactionary or obscurantist.

The disagreements concern our proposals for effective strategies to defeat political Islam says the father of world systems analysis rejecting allegations of Eurocentrism and ignoring differences in his approach. There are no more traditional 'vestiges' that were attacked by earlier modernization theories rather forms traditional in appearance that were remodelled to serve capitalist expansion.

It seemed for a long time that radical movements of the Left and Arab nationalists oppose each other. Nevertheless, alliances were formed by them that have fundamentally reshaped the political field in Palestine, Lebanon and Egypt.

Ali Shariati was one of the major intellectual forerunners of the Islam revolution in Iran who as mastering both Islam and Western philosophy has almost single handedly crossed the line between political Islam and the (secular) Left. His intellectual heritage begs for the question: may a credible Islam Left be formed/revived or political Islam becomes the servant of reactionary and imperialism supporting forces for good.