In the Egyptian weekly, Al Ahram, John Esposito, a prominent scholar of Islam and former president of the Middle East Studies Association, whom I have criticized, takes on Martin Kramer, Daniel Pipes, and me. What I find interesting here is Esposito’s effort to portray his point of view, and those who share it, as a struggling minority school of thought. In fact, Esposito and his like-minded colleagues rule the academy, while his critics are all on the outside. It would be nearly impossible to take on Esposito’s views and keep an academic job. Yet Esposito strikes the pose of a lonely dissident within the academy.