Radicalism and Political Reform in the Islamic and Western Worlds

Radicalism and Political Reform in the Islamic and Western Worlds PDF

Author: Kai Hafez

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2010-05-24

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 1139489046

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Over the last decade, political Islam has been denounced in the Western media and in the surrounding literature as a terrorist or fascist movement that is entirely at odds with Western democratic ideology. Kai Hafez's book overturns these arguments, contending that, despite its excesses, as a radical form of political opposition the movement plays a central role in the processes of democratization and modernization, and that these processes have direct parallels in the history and politics of the West. By analyzing the evolution of Christian democratization through the upheavals of the Reformation, colonisation, fascism, and totalitarianism, the book shows how radicalism and violence were constant accompaniments to political change, and that these components - despite assertions to the contrary - are still part of Western political culture to this day.

Political Islam

Political Islam PDF

Author: John L. Esposito

Publisher: Lynne Rienner Pub

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 9781555872625

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"For more than a decade, policymakers and observers in the Muslim world and the West have struggled with the specter of political Islam -- or "Islamic fundamentalism"--Often confounded by myriad and contradictory images. This book offers a thorough, objective examination of the impact of political Islam on domestic and international politics in countries ranging from North Africa to South Asia. Covering both governments and Islamic movements and organizations, the authors analyze the multifaceted nature and dynamics of contemporary Islamic politics in the context of three perspectives: the struggle between governments and illegal opposition; Islam within the political process; and the international relations of political Islam. They make a seminal contribution to the understanding of a phenomenon that incorporates extremists as well as moderates, and demagogues as well as representative populist movements." -- Publisher description.

Radical Reform

Radical Reform PDF

Author: Tariq Ramadan

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2009-02-05

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 0195331710

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In this new book, Tariq Ramadan argues that it is crucial to find theoretical and practical solutions that will enable Western Muslims to remain faithful to Islamic ethics while fully living within their societies and their time. He notes that Muslim scholars often refer to the notion of ijtihad (critical and renewed reading of the foundational texts) as the only way for Muslims to take up these modern challenges. But, Ramadan argues, in practice such readings have effectively reached the limits of their ability to serve the faithful in the West as well as the East. In this book he sets forward a radical new concept of ijtihad, which puts context -- including the knowledge derived from the hard and human sciences, cultures and their geographic and historical contingencies -- on an equal footing with the scriptures as a source of Islamic law.

Islamism

Islamism PDF

Author: Tarek Osman

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2016-02-23

Total Pages: 333

ISBN-13: 0300216017

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A political, social, and cultural battle is currently raging in the Middle East. On one side are the Islamists, those who believe Islam should be the region’s primary identity. In opposition are nationalists, secularists, royal families, military establishments, and others who view Islamism as a serious threat to national security, historical identity, and a cohesive society. This provocative, vitally important work explores the development of the largest, most influential Islamic groups in the Middle East over the past century. Tarek Osman examines why political Islam managed to win successive elections and how Islamist groups in various nations have responded after ascending to power. He dissects the alliances that have formed among Islamist factions and against them, addressing the important issues of Islamism’s compatibility with modernity, with the region’s experiences in the twentieth century, and its impact on social contracts and minorities. He explains what Salafism means, its evolution, and connections to jihadist groups in the Middle East. Osman speculates on what the Islamists’ prospects for the future will mean for the region and the rest of the world.

Radical Arab Nationalism and Political Islam

Radical Arab Nationalism and Political Islam PDF

Author: Lahouari Addi

Publisher: Georgetown University Press

Published: 2018-07-01

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1626164509

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Radical Arab nationalism emerged in the modern era as a response to European political and cultural domination, culminating in a series of military coups in the mid-20th century in Egypt, Algeria, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Libya. This movement heralded the dawn of modern, independent nations that would close the economic, social, scientific, and military gaps with the West while building a unity of Arab nations. But this dream failed. In fact, radical Arab nationalism became a barrier to civil peace and national cohesion, most tragically demonstrated in the case of Syria, for two reasons: 1) national armies militarized nationalism and its political objectives; 2) these nations did not keep pace with the intellectual and political and cultural and social progress of European nations that offered, for example, freedom of speech and thought. It was the failure of radical Arab nationalism, Addi contends, that made the more recent political Islam so popular. But if radical nationalism militarized politics, the Islamists politicized religion. Today, the prevailing medieval interpretation of Islam, defended by the Islamists, prevents these nations from making progress and achieving the kind of social justice that radical Arab nationalism once promised. Will political Islam fail, too? Can nations ruled by political Islam accommodate modernity? Their success or failure, Addi writes, depends upon this question.

Civil Democratic Islam

Civil Democratic Islam PDF

Author: Cheryl Benard

Publisher: Rand Corporation

Published: 2004-03-25

Total Pages: 89

ISBN-13: 0833036203

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In the face of Islam's own internal struggles, it is not easy to see who we should support and how. This report provides detailed descriptions of subgroups, their stands on various issues, and what those stands may mean for the West. Since the outcomes can matter greatly to international community, that community might wish to influence them by providing support to appropriate actors. The author recommends a mixed approach of providing specific types of support to those who can influence the outcomes in desirable ways.

Terrorist's Creed

Terrorist's Creed PDF

Author: R. Griffin

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2012-09-19

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 1137284722

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Terrorist's Creed casts a penetrating beam of empathetic understanding into the disturbing and murky psychological world of fanatical violence, explaining how the fanaticism it demands stems from the profoundly human need to imbue existence with meaning and transcendence.

One Islam, Many Muslim Worlds

One Islam, Many Muslim Worlds PDF

Author: Raymond William Baker

Publisher: Religion and Global Politics

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 0199846472

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By all measures, the late twentieth century was a time of dramatic decline for the Islamic world, the Ummah, particularly its Arab heartland. Sober Muslim voices regularly describe their current state as the worst in the 1,400-year history of Islam. Yet, precisely at this time of unprecedented material vulnerability, Islam has emerged as a civilizational force strong enough to challenge the imposition of Western, particularly American, homogenizing power on Muslim peoples. This is the central paradox of Islam today: at a time of such unprecedented weakness in one sense, how has the Islamic Awakening, a broad and diverse movement of contemporary Islamic renewal, emerged as such a resilient and powerful transnational force and what implications does it have for the West? In One Islam, Many Muslims Worlds Raymond W. Baker addresses this question. Two things are clear, Baker argues: Islam's unexpected strength in recent decades does not originate from official political, economic, or religious institutions, nor can it be explained by focusing exclusively on the often-criminal assertions of violent, marginal groups. While extremists monopolize the international press and the scholarly journals, those who live and work in the Islamic world know that the vast majority of Muslims reject their reckless calls to violence and look elsewhere for guidance. Baker shows that extremists draw their energy and support not from contributions to the reinterpretation and revival of Islamic beliefs and practices, but from the hatreds engendered by misguided Western policies in Islamic lands. His persuasive analysis of the Islamic world identifies centrists as the revitalizing force of Islam, saying that they are responsible for constructing a modern, cohesive Islamic identity that is a force to be reckoned with.

Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa

Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa PDF

Author: Andrea L. Stanton

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 2012-01-05

Total Pages: 1977

ISBN-13: 145226662X

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In our age of globalization and multiculturalism, it has never been more important for Americans to understand and appreciate foreign cultures and how people live, love, and learn in areas of the world unfamiliar to most U.S. students and the general public. The four volumes in our cultural sociology reference encyclopedia take a step forward in this endeavor by presenting concise information on those regions likely to be most "foreign" to U.S. students: the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The intent is to convey what daily life is like for people in these selected regions. It is hoped entries within these volumes will aid readers in efforts to understand the importance of cultural sociology, to appreciate the effects of cultural forces around the world, and to learn the history of countries and cultures within these important regions.

Spaces of Engagement

Spaces of Engagement PDF

Author: Syed Furrukh Zad Ali Shah

Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 349

ISBN-13: 3643909136

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This study reflects on discourses, politics, and culture of islamophobia with reference to Muslim diaspora communities in a post-migration Western European context. It argues that islamophobia is the product, as well as carries the agency, of Muslim diaspora enclave-exclave phenomenon. These socio-spatial encounters are not to be seen as divisive, but are to be understood as productive to seek to negotiate a transnational multi-cultural public space for integration. It is in this context that this study has sought to relocate European Islamophobia in Muslim diaspora enclaves. Dissertation. (Series: Islam in the Existence of Europe / Islam in der Lebenswelt Europa, Vol. 11) [Subject: Islamic Studies, Middle East Studies, Muslim Studies]