Among The Believers: An Islamic Journey was published in 1981. It records the author’s six month journey through four Muslim countries. It was a time when Islamic fundamentalism was beginning to gain strength. The author attempts to analyze the reasons and effects of this trend. It was a time when the younger generation in these countries were increasingly feeling the influence of the West. They wanted the material comforts and luxuries enjoyed by the liberal societies of the Western democracies, yet, this conflicted with what they had been led to believe by leaders like Ayatollah Khomeini, that their faith was pure and their rejection of the Western ideas would soon be vindicated. The power of the West, the influence of countries like America was actually increasing. Now, the younger people were caught in a conflict between what they coveted and their entrenched beliefs. Many of these young men and women then chose religious fundamentalism as the way to fight the lure of the West and retain the purity of their culture. The author feels that a society that yearns for all the social, scientific, technological and healthcare advances of the West and yet seeks to isolate itself from it and bury itself in a fundamentalist version of the Muslim faith is a confused ideal. He sees this trend leading to the rise of religious extremism in these regions, while arresting its creativity and progress. Among The Believers: An Islamic Journey was the author’s analysis of the reactionary Islamic institutions that were raising their heads in these regions. It is his attempt to present to the world his views on the confusing values and ideals that led young people in these countries to turn to a regressive version of their faith as the only way to preserve their culture.