There are experts. And then there are experts. When it comes to Islam and/or national security, these days just about anyone can pass themselves off as an expert. But how do the real experts behave? 

Some months back, a number of Muslims in Australia and New Zealand were approached by a leading expert in political Islam. William Shepard is a retired associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.

He has taught and researched political Islam for more than three decades. He reads and writes fluent Arabic in both its classical and modern forms and is regarded as a world authority on leading jihadist ideologues, including Egyptian journalist Syed Qutb, whose work heavily influenced Osama bin Laden. He has also closely followed developments in Muslim communities across the Western world. 

The author had been asked to write an entry on Muslims in Australia and New Zealand for an encyclopaedia of Islam. The entry was to be hardly 1,000 words in length. 

Notwithstanding his obvious expertise and experience, Shepard still felt the need to run his entry past a number of leading figures in Muslim communities on both sides of the Tasman. 

Compare Shepard's humility to the author of another recent monograph, purportedly on Islam in Australia. The report was published last week by Policy Exchange, a right-wing London establishment describing itself as an independent think tank aiming to develop and promote new policy ideas and committed to an evidence-based approach to policy development, working in partnership with academics and other experts. 

The Policy Exchange publication, Islam in Australia: Democratic bipartisanship in action, is written by Sydney-based columnist and commentator Gerard Henderson. 

Muslims Don't Need Think Tanks To Say What's On Their Mind