Islam is a religion grounded in balance, mercy, and a rigorous scholarly tradition developed over centuries. Yet in contemporary global discourse, Islam is rarely presented in this form. Instead, two distorted versions dominate public attention. One is hyper violent, radical, and stripped of ethical restraint. The other is hollowed out, secularised, and reduced to a cultural identity devoid of law, resistance, or spiritual depth. Conspicuously absent from the global stage is the Islam of the middle path, rooted in Ashari theology, classical Sunni fiqh, and tasawwuf, the Islam that historically unified societies, cultivated knowledge, and restrained power.
This absence is not accidental. Both extremes, the violent and the ultra liberal, are amplified, funded, or tolerated within a global system that benefits from distortion. Their shared outcome is the same. They drown out and delegitimise authentic Sunni Islam, the very tradition capable of unifying the Ummah and challenging entrenched global dominance.
Two Faces of the Same Strategy
Across Western capitals, Muslim figures granted access to conferences, advisory panels, and media platforms are often those who have openly abandoned foundational Islamic principles. Public positions denying established obligations, dismissing prophetic tradition, or framing Islamic law as obsolete are routinely rewarded with visibility and institutional backing. This version of Islam is reframed as a private cultural identity, detached from moral authority, law, or resistance. It is presented as moderation.
At the same time, in conflict zones and destabilised regions, a radically different image of Islam is allowed to flourish. Hyper violent, takfiri movements are permitted to grow and, in some documented cases, were enabled through indirect support or strategic tolerance to fracture societies seen as hostile to Western or Israeli interests.
These two forces appear opposed. In reality, they perform the same function. One presents Islam as a civilisational threat. The other presents it as irrelevant. In both cases, the centre is erased.
The Marginalisation of the Scholarly Middle
Missing from mainstream platforms are the inheritors of Sunni scholarly continuity, the tradition shaped by theologians, jurists, and spiritual masters whose works structured Muslim civilisation. Institutions grounded in Ashari and Maturidi theology and disciplined spiritual practice have been sidelined, co opted, or portrayed as outdated.
Colonial governance recognised early that weakening Muslim societies required disabling their intellectual and spiritual compass. Centres of learning were bureaucratised. Madrasa networks were dismantled. Sufi orders were suppressed or stripped of substance. What filled the vacuum was either rigid literalism exported through state patronage or a secularised Islam reduced to personal spirituality without collective responsibility.
Extremism as an Instrument of Power
Violent movements branded as Islamic have served strategic purposes for global powers. They provide justification for prolonged military intervention in Muslim lands. They enable the demonisation of Islamic symbols in media and law. They generate fear that legitimises surveillance, detention, and the silencing of dissenting Muslim voices.
Declassified material has shown that the emergence of radical entities was sometimes viewed as strategically useful in weakening targeted states. Public acknowledgements by senior Western officials have confirmed past involvement in arming militant groups for geopolitical ends. These are not speculative claims but part of the documented record.
Parallel to this, the liberal reformist current is used to reshape Islam into a form compatible with neoliberal order. In this model, there is no room for resistance, no challenge to occupation, no moral critique of power. Islam becomes cuisine, clothing, and coexistence, carefully defined within acceptable political limits.
Patterns of Engineered Religion
Several recurring patterns illustrate how this process operates. In parts of Europe, traditional scholars and grassroots religious movements face restrictions, while state approved religious figures promoting depoliticised Islam are elevated. In parts of the Gulf, decades of funding rigid literalism have given way to tightly controlled expressions of religion aligned with entertainment and state branding. In the United States, counter extremism programmes have supported Muslim leaders only if they advanced an apolitical, compliant religious narrative. Across the NGO sector, Western funded platforms routinely censor discussion of Palestine, resistance, or Islamic law, while amplifying themes designed to align Islam with prevailing cultural agendas.
The Real Target
The Islam most consistently marginalised is the one with roots and resistance. It is neither violent nor submissive. It is grounded, principled, and difficult to manipulate. This tradition teaches devotion to God, loyalty to the wider Muslim community, and moral resistance to tyranny. It produces scholars who refuse to trade ethical authority for access or funding. It builds communities resilient to cultural erasure.
This is the Islam that challenged colonial rule, produced intellectual giants, and sustained societies through law, ethics, and spirituality. It is also the Islam most feared by systems built on control.
Reclaiming the Centre
Reviving the middle path requires deliberate effort. Platforms for traditional Sunni scholarship must be restored. False binaries that force Muslims to choose between liberal dilution and violent distortion must be rejected. Independent institutions, from media to education, must be built without dependence on state or NGO agendas. Above all, the mechanisms of manipulation must be exposed so they lose their power.
Conclusion
The greatest threat to entrenched power is not extremism. It is clarity. It is balance. It is prophetic wisdom rooted in scholarship and lived ethics. The middle of the Ummah, its sound heart, has been deliberately pushed aside because it cannot be easily controlled.
Muslims were never meant to choose between two poisons. The task ahead is to revive the medicine.
