Among Egyptian fundamentalist groups, one of the most important ideological debates has been whether the Egyptian regime or the West should be the primary target of action. This classic work is updated to analyze how internal debates, coupled with the government's defeat of the insurgency through violence and cooptation, led many Egyptian radical fundamentalists to join Usama bin Ladin and focus on attacking America. It includes excerpts and an analysis of the writings of Ayman al-Zawahiri, a veteran leader of the Egyptian movement who became Usama bin Ladin's right-hand man and helped plan the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Today, Muslims are the second largest religious group in much of Europe and Northern America. The essays in this collection look both at the impact of the growing Muslim Population on Western Societies, and how Muslims are adapting to life in the west. Part I looks at the Muslim diaspora in Europe, comprising essays on Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands. Part II turns to the Western hemisphere and muslims in the US, Canada and Mexico. Throughout, the authors contend with such questions as: Can Muslims retain their faith and identity and at the same time accept and function within the secular and pluralistic traditions of Europe and America? What are the limits of Western pluralism? Will Muslims come to be fully accepted as fellow citizens with equal rights? An excellent guide to the changing landscape of Islam, this volume is an indespensible introduction to the experiences of Muslim in the West, and the diverse responses to their adopted countries.

Today, Muslims are the second largest religious group in much of Europe and Northern America. The essays in this collection look both at the impact of the growing Muslim population on Western societies, and how Muslims are adapting to life in the west. Part 1 looks at the Muslim diaspora in Europe, comprising essays on Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands. Part 2 turns to the Western Hemisphere and Muslims in the U.S. Canada and Mexico. Throughout, the authors contend with such questions as: Can Muslims retain their faith and identity and at the same time accept and function within the secular and pluralistic traditions of Europe and America? What are the limits of Western pluralism? Will Muslims come to be fully accepted as fellow citizens with equal rights? An excellent guide to the changing landscape of Islam, this volume is an indespensable introduction to the experiences of Muslims in the west, and the diverse responses of their adopted countries. Includes a foreword by John L. Esposito.

Between Mecca and Beijing examines how a community of urban Chinese Muslims uses consumption to position its members more favorably within the Chinese government's official paradigm for development. Residents of the old Muslim district in the ancient Chinese capital of Xi'an belong to an official minority (the Hui nationality) that has been classified by the state as "backward" in comparison to China's majority (Han) population. Though these Hui urbanites, like the vast majority of Chinese citizens, accept the assumptions about social evolution upon which such labels are based, they actively reject the official characterization of themselves as less civilized and modern than the Han majority.By selectively consuming goods and adopting fashions they regard as modern and non-Chinese-which include commodities and styles from both the West and the Muslim world-these Chinese Muslims seek to demonstrate that they are capable of modernizing without the guidance or assistance of the state. In so doing, they challenge one of the fundamental roles the Chinese Communist government has claimed for itself, that of guide and purveyor of modernity. Through a detailed study of the daily life-eating habits, dress styles, housing, marriage and death rituals, religious practices, education, family organization-of the Hui inhabitants of Xi'an, the author explores the effects of a state-sponsored ideology of progress on an urban Chinese Muslim neighborhood.

Makers of Contemporary Islam examines the biographies of nine major activist intellectuals whose work provides the core of what the Islamic resurgence became in the 1990's and is an important foundation for what it can become in the 21st century. The profiles of these internationally recognized figures provide a new understanding of the intellectual foundations of contemporary Islamic awareness and Muslim politics. Nine figures are covered: Ismail al-Faruqi, Khurshid Ahmad, Maryam Jameelah, Hasan Hanafi, Anwar Ibrahim, and Abdurrahman Wahid. These intellectual activists represent a distinctive phase in the evolution of Islamic thinking: the ongoing effort to create an effective synthesis of modernity and Islamic tradition. Makers of Contemporary Islam is essential reading for students and scholars of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies as well as general readers interested in the Islamic resurgence and international affairs.

What we understand by the 'Middle East' has changed over time and across space. While scholars agree that the geographical 'core' of the Middle East is the Arabian Peninsula, the boundaries are less clear. How far back in time should we go to define the Middle East? How far south and east should we move on the African continent? And how do we deal with the minority religions in the region, and those who migrate to the West? Across this handbook's 52 chapters, the leading sociologists writing on the Middle East share their standpoint on these questions. Taking the featured scholars as constitutive of the field, the handbook reshapes studies on the region by piecing together our knowledge on the Middle East from their path-defining contributions. The volume is divided into four parts covering sociologists' perspectives on: * Social transformations and social conflict; from Israel-Palestine and the Iranian Revolution, to the Arab Uprisings and the Syrian War * The region's economic, religious and political activities; including the impact of the spread of Western modernity; the effects of neo-liberalism; and how Islam shapes the region's life and politics * People's everyday practices as they have shaped our understanding of culture, consumption, gender and sexuality * The diasporas from the Middle East in Europe and North America, which put the Middle East in dialogue with other regions of the world. The global approach and wide-ranging topics represent how sociologists enable us to redefine the boundaries and identities of the Middle East today.

Although the contributions of Islamic civilisations to science have long been recognised, the application of this scientific expertise to technology had been neglected until the publication of this then pioneering 1986 text. The book begins to remedy that neglect, first by celebrating the richness and ingenuity of the world of Islamic technology and then by pointing the way forward to its more detailed exploration. Lavishly illustrated, this book explores the major technological achievements of Islamic civilisations, namely the public works of civil engineering, the machines and mechanical devices which served to control water, provide power, serve as instruments or to amuse.

Western civilization tends to view secularism as a positive achievement. From this perspective, benefits of secularizing trends include the separation of church and state, the rule of law, and freedom from organized religion.

In the Arab Middle East, however, Islamist intellectuals increasingly cite Western-inspired secularism as the source of the region's social dislocation and political instability. While secularism in the West led to the spread of democratic values, in the Muslim world it has been associated with dictatorship, the violation of human rights, and the abrogation of civil liberties.

Islam and Secularism in the Middle East examines the origins and growth of the movement to abolish the secularizing reforms of the past century by creating a political order guided by Shariah law. Contributors explain the Islamic rejection of secularism as a failed Western Christian ideal and also discuss how secularization was pioneered by those who thought Muslims could only advance politically by emulating Western practices, including the renunciation of religion.

An examination into the intersection of Malcolm X's Muslim spiritual life and his Christian relations Despite his association with the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X had an intimate relation with Christianity and Christians, which influenced his personal life and spirituality as well as his career. Lou Decaro's Malcolm and the Cross thoroughly explores the relation between Malcolm, the Nation of Islam, and Christianity. After revealing the religious roots of the Nation of Islam in relation to Christianity, DeCaro examines Malcolm's development and contributions as an activist, journalist, orator, and revolutionist against the backdrop of his familial religious heritage. In the process, DeCaro achieves nothing less than a radical rethinking of the way we understand Malcolm X, depicting him as a religious revolutionist whose analysis of Christianity is indispensable--particularly in an era when cultic Islam, Christianity, and traditional Islam continue to represent key factors in any discussion about racism in the United States.

Are Islam and the West on a collision course? From the Ayatollah Khomeini to Saddam Hussein, the image of Islam as a militant, expansionist, and rabidly anti-American religion has gripped the minds of Western governments and media. But these perceptions, John L. Esposito writes, stem from a long history of mutual distrust, criticism, and condemnation, and are far too simplistic to help us understand one of the most important political issues of our time. In this new edition of The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?, Esposito places the challenge of Islam in critical perspective. Exploring the vitality of this religion as a global force and the history of its relations with the West, Esposito demonstrates the diversity of the Islamic resurgence--and the mistakes our analysts make in assuming a hostile, monolithic Islam. This third edition has been expanded to include new material on current affairs in Turkey, Afghanistan, Palestine, and Southeast Asia, as well as a discussion of international terrorism.

In recent years, Algeria has been rocked by social upheaval, protest, and spasmodic violence. Like many countries caught between the tides of fundamentalist religion and secular culture, the very fiber of the nation seems to be fraying.

Michael Willis here charts the meteoric rise of one of the largest and most powerful Islamist movements in the Muslim world. Tracing its origins to the French colonial domination in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Islamism has always played a defining role in both the national struggle against the French and in the newly independent Algerian state.

The primary focus of Willis's book is on Algeria since 1988, when unprecedented social unrest led to political changes that allowed Algeria's Islamists to form political parties and compete in multi- party elections. The largest Islamist party, the Front Islamique du Salut (FIS), after rousing victories in local and national elections in 1990 and 1991, was subsequently crushed by the military regime.

Since then, despite the Rome Accord of January 1995, over 50,000 lives have been lost in an increasingly bloody conflict that threatens to spiral out of control. Banned by the army, the FIS splintered, with various factions arming themselves, leading to the current, ominous state of disarray.

Why do Muslim-majority countries exhibit high levels of authoritarianism and low levels of socio-economic development in comparison to world averages? Ahmet T. Kuru criticizes explanations which point to Islam as the cause of this disparity, because Muslims were philosophically and socio-economically more developed than Western Europeans between the ninth and twelfth centuries. Nor was Western colonialism the cause: Muslims had already suffered political and socio-economic problems when colonization began. Kuru argues that Muslims had influential thinkers and merchants in their early history, when religious orthodoxy and military rule were prevalent in Europe. However, in the eleventh century, an alliance between orthodox Islamic scholars (the ulema) and military states began to emerge. This alliance gradually hindered intellectual and economic creativity by marginalizing intellectual and bourgeois classes in the Muslim world. This important study links its historical explanation to contemporary politics by showing that, to this day, ulema-state alliance still prevents creativity and competition in Muslim countries.

In a well-known hadith, Muhammed advises Muslims that, "On the Day of Resurrection, you will be called by your names and the names of your fathers; so keep beautiful names." Inspired by the teachings of Islam, names fulfill the cherished ambitions of a true Muslim. In The Dictionary of Muslim Names, Salahuddin Ahmed provides a helpful and substantive guide to common and less-common Muslim names. This lively and informative dictionary lists the original Arabic, Persian, or Turkish spelling, as well as a precise English transliteration. The names' meaning and bearing on Islamic heritage or world history are referenced, along with historical figures who bore the name-an Imaam, a Sultan, a saint-and accompanying illustrations.

The Politicisation of Islam: A Case Study of Tunisia traces the emergence, rise, and recent eclipse of the modern Tunisian Islamic movement, al-Nahda, and provides a comprehensive analysis of its political, social, and intellectual discourse. The first two chapters concentrate on the factors behind the emergence of al-Nahda and its politicization. The three major confrontations between the movement and the Tunisian regime, which culminated in 1991 in the banning of all al-Nahda activities inside Tunisia, is explored in Chapter Three. The author discusses the basic concepts of political Islam in the movement's literature in Chapter Four, in particular the Islamists' rejection of secularism, and al-Nahda's proposal for a modern Islamic state in Chapter Five. In the concluding chapter, the author addresses the Islamists' cultural agenda and their insistence on an Islamic identity for Tunisia. A valuable contribution to the study of political Islam, this is the first complete analysis, in English, of the history of this modern Tunisian Islamic movement.

This comprehensive introduction explores the landscape of contemporary Islam. Written by a distinguished team of scholars, it:

• provides broad overviews of the developments, events, people and movements that have defined Islam in the three majority-Muslim regions
• traces the connections between traditional Islamic institutions and concerns, and their modern manifestations and transformations. How are medieval ideas, policies and practices refashioned to address modern circumstances
• investigates new themes and trends that are shaping the modern Muslim experience such as gender, fundamentalism, the media and secularisation
• offers case studies of Muslims and Islam in dynamic interaction with different societies.

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Islam in the Modern World" includes illustrations, summaries, discussion points and suggestions for further reading that will aid understanding and revision. Additional resources are provided via a companion website.

The book provides theoretical insight and analysis of the power relations between women's activism, Islamist thought and praxis, and the Egyptian state (1970s to 1990s)' Contemporary feminist debates among women's NGOs are examined, and the different perceptions of gender roles among Islamist men and women are presented and contrasted. Three feminist streams are identified as both shaping and being shaped by, the dynamics of interaction between political Islam and state regimes.

What does Islam really say about women? This work is a collection of major references to women in the Quran and Hadiths, the two central "Pillars of Islam" on which Islamic legislation and social practice are based. The Hadiths are taken from the collections of Bukhari and Muslim, the Sahihain or two sound collections generally regarded as the most reliable. Topics covered include hygiene, divorce, marriage, sex and chastity, inheritance, and status and rights.

"A dozen experts provide a coherent picture of the Taliban and the Great Game. . . . They discuss the emergence of the Taliban, their military development, the civil war, and their relations with foreign powers. Several of the authors conclusively demonstrate that the Taliban(and their organized opposition) are the creatures of external powers.... Richard Mackenzie provides a devastating summary of the ineptitute with which U.S. policies have been conducted . . . the volume makes it all too clear that outside powers will determine Afghanistan's fate."
--Middle East Quarterly

"A useful analysis of the Taliban and politics and society in Afghanistan today. The four chapters on the intensive foreign involvement--by Pakistan, the United States, Russian, the Central Asian republics, Saudi Arabia, and Iran--show that the venerable "great game" once played between Britain and czarist Russia now has multiple players."
--Foreign Affairs

"A fascinating and thorough analysis of the very complex political/military situation that evolved in Afghanistan follwing the demise of the Soviet puppet regime in 1992. This volume also provides an insightful study of the rise of a new form of puritanical Islamic fundamentalism that overran Kabul in September 1996--namely, the Taliban, and its impact on Afghan society. . . . Highly recommended."
--Choice

"[It] is an important collection of essays by leading experts on Afghanistan and the Taliban...an invaluable academic resource for anyone seeking to understand how the Taliban came to rule and "ruin" Afghanistan."
--"Washington Times"

In 1996, the world watched with varying degrees of interest, surprise, and unease as armed, ultra-fundamentalist insurgents overthrew the Afghan government. Within days of their victory, the Taliban, a militant Islamic sect, were issuing draconian religious decrees, restricting women's employment and movement, rounding up Afghans at gunpoint to pray five times a day, and publicly executing political opponents and criminals.

Composed of essays commissioned from the foremost experts on the Taliban, this anthology traces the movement's origins, its ascendance, the reasons for its success, and its role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Crucial to the Taliban's staying power as a governing force will be its relations with neighboring countries and with the West. Interestingly, given their intense hatred of Iran, the Taliban were enthusiastically supported by the U.S. government up to the very moment of their triumphant arrival in Kabul.

Examining yet another country on the brink of ethnic disintegration, Fundamentalism Reborn? is a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the history, rise to power, and future of the most dramatic manifestation of Islamic fundamentalism since the Iranian revolution.

There was a village in Palestine called Ein Houd, whose people traced their ancestry back to one of Saladin's generals who was granted the territory as a reward for his prowess in battle. By the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, all the inhabitants of Ein Houd had been dispersed or exiled or had gone into hiding, although their old stone homes were not destroyed. In 1953 the Israeli government established an artists' cooperative community in the houses of the village, now renamed Ein Hod. In the meantime, the Arab inhabitants of Ein Houd moved two kilometers up a neighboring mountain and illegally built a new village. They could not afford to build in stone, and the mountainous terrain prevented them from using the layout of traditional Palestinian villages. That seemed unimportant at the time, because the Palestinians considered it to be only temporary, a place to live until they could go home. The Palestinians have not gone home. The two villages-Jewish Ein Hod and the new Arab Ein Houd-continue to exist in complex and dynamic opposition. The Object of Memory explores the ways in which the people of Ein Houd and Ein Hod remember and reconstruct their past in light of their present-and their present in light of their past. Honorable Mention, 1999 Perkins Book Prize, Society for the Study of Narrative

Serious interest in the politics of radical Islam dates from precisely Christmas 1978, when the pro-American Pahlavi dynasty in Iran came tumbling down. The academic form of that fascination consists in this book of 13 insightful case-studies of Muslim minorities and majorities worldwide. How do Muslims cope with political weakness in India, Israel, and the West? And in their own lands, have Muslims found their political identity?' - Shabbir Akhtar, The Times Higher Education Supplement;This is the most recent and up-to-date study on the state of affairs in the Muslim world at a time when Muslims, like others, are confronted with the challenges posed by a rapidly changing new world order. Some 15 countries and regions are covered in this scholarly collection. The contributors are well-informed academics and experts from 10 leading universities and institutes.

In an age when Western feminism is continuously undergoing redifinition, the struggles of women in Muslim countries are often overlooked. This volume illustrates how women in Islamic societies have become more actively involved not only in learning their rights under the sharia (Islamic law) but in rereading this law to improve their status and gain increased equality and freedom. Surveying Iran, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt and Arab societies in general, the essays in feminism and Islam focus on such subjects as crimes of honor and the construction of gender in Arab societies; law and the desire for social control; women ad entrepreneurship; family legislation; and the political srategies of feminists inb the Islam world. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first Saudi Arabian woman to ean a docorate from Oxford, Mai Yamani is Research associate at the Center of Ixlamic and Middle Eastern law at the School of oriental and African Studies of the University of London.

The great scholar of Islam directly confronts the events of September 11th and the reasons behind Islamic terrorism in the modern world - a Sunday Times bestseller. President Bush has made it clear that we are engaged in a war against terrorism. But for Osama bin Laden and his followers this is religious war, a war for Islam against infidels, especially the United States, the greatest power in the world of the infidels. In this book Bernard Lewis shows us where the anger and frustration have come from, and the extent to which almost the entire Muslim world is affected by poverty and tyranny. He looks at the influence of extreme Wahhabist doctrines in the Saudi kingdom, where custodianship of Islam's holy places and the revenues of oil have given worldwide impact to what would otherwise have been an extremist fringe in a marginal country. He looks at American double standards, which have long caused Muslim anger, and tells us the real meaning of `Islamic fundamentalism', `jihad' and `fatwa', and why the peoples of the Middle East are conscious of history in a way most Americans find difficult to understand.

In this groundbreaking book, Akbar Ahmed, one of the world's leading authorities on Islam, who has worked in the Muslim world but lives in the West, explains what is going wrong in his society by referring to Islamic history and beliefs. Employing theological and anthropological perspectives, he attempts to answer the questions that people in the West are asking about Islam: "Why do they hate us?" "Is Islam compatible with democracy?" "Does Islam subjugate women?" "Does the Quran preach violence?" These important questions are of relevance to Muslims and to non-Muslims alike. Islam Under Siege points out the need for, and provides the route to, the dialogue of civilizations.

September 11, 2001, underlined the role of Islam in our time. In its demographic spread, its political span, and its religious commitment, Islam will be an increasingly forceful presence on the world stage in the twenty-first century. While some scholars predict that there will be a clash of civilizations, others see a need for a dialogue of civilizations.

This book will help students, scholars of politics, sociology, international relations, and cultural studies, and reporters as well as a more general audience interested in some of the most important issues of our time.

The current Islamic revival is frequently associated with fundamentalism and radical politics. This reinforces Western perceptions of Islamic women as victims of a sexist and reactionary rule. What many outsiders fail to realize is that quite a number of Muslim women are ardently embracing their religion as a means through which they can express gender identity, power and creativity.
In overturning ingrained notions of Muslim women's subjugation, this timely book situates Islam as a religion undergoing reinterpretation and change -- especially in relation to gender identities -- rather than as a monolithic movement reacting against westernization and modernization. Through their political, educational, and recreational activities, more and more Muslim women are setting agendas of their own and are actively redefining the role of women in Muslim society.