Presenting a political history and sociology of Moroccan Sufism from colonialism to the modern day, this book studies the Sufi model of Master and Disciple in relation to social and political life, comparing the different eras of acquiescent versus dissident Sufism. This comparative fieldwork study offers new perspectives on the connection between the monarchy and mystic realms with a specific coverage of the Boutchichi order and Abdessalam Yassine's Al Adl Wal Ihsane, examining the myth of apolitical Sufism throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Drawing on Michel Foucault and James Scott, this book fuses thinking about the political dimension of Sufism, a "hidden transcript," involving power struggles, patronage and justice and its esoteric spiritual ethics of care. Addressing the lacuna in English language literature on the Boutchichi Sufi order in Morocco, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Islamic Studies, Comparative Politics and the MENA region.

Presenting a political history and sociology of Moroccan Sufism from colonialism to the modern day, this book studies the Sufi model of Master and Disciple in relation to social and political life, comparing the different eras of acquiescent versus dissident Sufism.

This comparative fieldwork study offers new perspectives on the connection between the monarchy and mystic realms with a specific coverage of the Boutchichi order and Abdessalam Yassine s Al Adl Wal Ihsane, examining the myth of apolitical Sufism throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Drawing on Michel Foucault and James Scott, this book fuses thinking about the political dimension of Sufism, a "hidden transcript," involving power struggles, patronage and justice and its esoteric spiritual ethics of care.

Addressing the lacuna in English language literature on the Boutchichi Sufi order in Morocco, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Islamic Studies, Comparative Politics and the MENA region."

Following the much-publicised self-immolation of Muhammad Bouazizi on 18 December 2010, a tempestuous succession of demonstrations, revolutions and civil wars swept the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. These events, collectively referred to as the Arab Spring, spread contagiously throughout the Middle East and the Maghreb. But instead of ushering in tidy transitions of power in autocratic regimes, the revolutions and uprisings ushered in a state of chaos, which greatly complicates the task of analysts and historians whose job it is to make sense of what has taken place. Will the Arab Spring bring much needed change that benefits the Arab peoples or will instability and turmoil keep the Middle East in a perpetual state of what some have termed the Arab winter? This is a contributory work by Middle East experts. As well as political and social analysis of the events and aftermath of the Arab Spring, the work provides a complex of paradigms (ranging from complexity studies to sport) which have thus far been overlooked by scholars and commentators in their assessments of Arab Spring manifestations. The result is unprecedented insights into the myriad forces that have inhibited genuine political and social transformations in the states of the Middle East and North Africa.

The relationship between Moroccan sainthood and its monarchical counterpart has attracted much attention from researchers in anthropology, religious studies or political science. The analysis of this waltz can offer invaluable insights into the dynamics of Moroccan history because the king and the saint are seen as the two most active actors in this history. Yet, the study of the relationship between these two figures has been an essentialized depiction of a hegemonic and a submissive pair. Hence, the work of Princeton's Moroccan anthropologist Abdellah Hammoudi about the master and the disciple deserves a pause in this work to "deconstruct"- in a very healthy way that academic ego feigns to ignore- some of its anti-Foucauldian assumptions. In this book, I offer an integrated methodology to read the Sufi relationship politically.The dynamics of king/saint relationship in Moroccan culture allows the strategic reinvention of the "sheikh" in order to meet the dynamic requirement of Moroccan history. One can see how the very fashionable Hamza Yusuf switched from attacking- in one of his tapes-the former Moroccan king Hassan II as a mafia mobster, to tilting his head in submission while invited at the king's palace in the "Hassani lectures. The Sufi attire has become a very fashionable garment in Morocco lately with its accompanying music (the Fes Festival) and its ministers, and a political gaze at this symbolism haunts us to recall its "dj vu" in Moroccan archives.