Political Islam from Muhammad to Ahmadinejad

by Skelly, Joseph

• ISBN13: 9780313372230
• ISBN10: 0313372233
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-11-25
• Publisher: Praeger Pub Text

Summary

Under the auspices of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, Joseph Morrison Skelly brings together a list team of experts to create a compelling, scholarly investigation of the interrelationship of Islam and politics. Divided into several topical sections, including early origins of Islamic politics, the development of jihad in an age of terror, and contemporary politics, Political Islam from Muhammad to Ahmadinejad: Defenders, Detractors, and Definitions is an in-depth exploration of the various dimensions of political Islamfor the international community, the Islamic world itself, and anyone who seeks a deeper understanding of this phenomenon.Political Islam from Muhammad to Ahmadinejad takes an evenhanded approach in considering competing interpretations of political Islam, successfully broadening the scholarly investigation of the topic. The work assesses political Islam across a broad chronological time frame and includes regional perspectives within the contexts of areas in Africa and the Middle East. Skelly and his colleagues tackle controversial issues head-on and provide an intellectual framework for advancing political Islam into new stages of economic development, intellectual renewal, and accommodation with constitutional democracy and human rights. Each contributor lends a unique and specialized perspective to the discussion on this timely topic.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgntents	p. vii
Abbreviations	p. ix
Foreword	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Political Islam from Muhammad to Ahmadinejad	p. 3
The Origins of Political Islam	p. 13
Balanced Opposition: The Tribal Foundations of Arab Middle Eastern Islamic Culture	p. 15
Why Did Muhammad Attack the Byzantines? A Re-examination of Quran Sura 30:1-2	p. 27
Challenging the Islamist Politicization of Islam: The Non-Islamic Origins of Muslim Political Concepts	p. 35
Interpreting Political Islam	p. 51
War and Peace: Negotiating Meaning in Islam	p. 53
The Quranic Concept of War	p. 72
Jihad in Africa: Past and Present	p. 89
Mad Mullahs and the Pax Britannica: Islam as a Factor in Somali Resistance to British Colonial Rule	p. 91
Jihadists and Jurisprudents: The "Revisions" Literature of Sayyid Imam and Al-Gamáa Al-Islamiyya	p. 105
Takfir as a Tool for Instigating Jihad Among Muslims: The Ghanaian Example	p. 147
Political Islam in Iran, Iraq, and Palestine	p. 161
Reading Tehran in Washington: The Problems of Defining the Fundamentalist Regime in Iran and Assessing the Prospects for Political Change	p. 163
The Modern Impact of Mahdism and the Case of Iraq	p. 182
Palestinian Precedents: The Origins of Al-Qaeda's Use of Suicide Terrorism and Istishhad	p. 193
Economic Reform and Reforming Islam	p. 207
Economic Justice in the Middle East: A Bad Idea, Badly Done	p. 209
"For Truth Does Not Oppose Truth": The Agreement of Divine Law and Philosophy in Averroës' The Book of the Decisive Treatise (Kitab Fasl al-Maqal)	p. 225
Hermeneutics and Human Rights: Liberal Democracy, Catholicism, and Islam	p. 237
Index	p. 267
About the Contributors	p. 277
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