Islam, the people and the state
Subtitle: political ideas and movements in the Middle East
By: Sami Zubaida.
Edition: New 3rd ed., New updated ed.
Publisher: I.B. Tauris; In the United States of America and in Canada distributed by St. Martins Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: London; New York; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 192
ISBN-13: 9781845118235
Subjects: Islam -- Middle East; Islam and politics -- Middle East; Islam and state; Islam; Politieke bewegingen; Politieke ideeën; Middle East -- Politics and government; Iran -- Politics and government -- 1979-1997; Midden-Oosten
Description: "Sam Zubaida unpicks the phenomena which have come to define the Middle East in popular imagination: radical religious movements like the Muslim Brotherhood, authoritarian dynasties like the Sauds, anti-Western demagogues like Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinegad. He shows that, far from being an expression of the 'essential' character of an 'Islamic' region, they are produced by a series of historical, cultural and economic processes. He highlights the historical, religious and cultural diversity of the region, and argues persuasively against viewing it through the prism of Islam. He shows that movements such as Hezbollah and Hamas are not a rejection of modernity but a part of it. In a new chapter, he probes the 'Islamisation' of the region which is alleged to have taken place in recent years and argues that a superfical increase of religious symbols in public life masks a more fundamental and irreversible process of secularization."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 183-187) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction to the third edition; title: The ideological preconditions for Khomeini's doctrine of government; title: The quest for the Islamic state: Islamic fundamentalism in Egypt and Iran; title: Classes as political actors in the Iranian revolution; title: Class and community in urban politics; title: Components of popular culture in the Middle East; title: The nation state in the Middle East.