Found this fascinating article at the Chronicle of Higher Education: The Chronicle: 3/11/2005: From Islam, Pluralist Democracies Will Surely Grow.
From the very moment that God spoke the first word of Revelation to Muhammad — “Recite!” — the story of Islam has been in a constant state of evolution as it responds to the social, cultural, political, and temporal circumstances of those who are telling it. Now it must evolve once more.