In a recent article in the British Guardian newspaper, Ed Husain, a former member of the radical Islamist Hizb ut Tahrir organization [which aims to bring about a worldwide Muslim state], sought to draw a parallel between Zionism and radical Islam. The movements were, Husain claimed, "both political perversions of ancient Abrahamic faiths of Judaism and Islam." Husain's simplistic claim was made possible by his near-total lack of knowledge of Zionism, the issue of Jewish peoplehood, the vexed issue of secular and religious Jewish identity, and so on. However, the claim is an interesting one, and closer observation of it offers clues as to the dynamics governing the current clash between Israel and radical Islamism, and the likely outcome of the contest.

Both Zionism and radical Islam are, self-consciously, movements of "revival." They have the following aspect in common, which underlies the tremendous strength of the loyalties to which both have been able to inspire in their followers: They have been able to reach back to motifs, stories and beliefs preceding modernity, which were at the core of the identities of the people to whom they wished to appeal. Here lies the difference between these two movements and, for example, the communism and radical socialism of the 20th century on the other. The latter two preached a radical break with the past, and celebrated an unfamiliar, imagined future. Zionism and Islamism, by contrast, both draw on the deep currents of identification and loyalty felt by Jews and Muslims to their respective traditions and history.

The result of this deeper anchoring are plain to see: The movements of secular utopia produced by modernity have largely been eclipsed and disappeared. Movements of "revival," meanwhile, have proven one of the most durable and powerful form of political gathering of the last two centuries. They are able to enlist much of what is most dear to human beings for their purpose: cultural memory, personal identity, the magic of myth, the notion of "renewing the days of old."