If Westerners know a single Islamic term, it is likely to be jihad, the Arabic word for "holy war." The image of Islam as an inherently aggressive and xenophobic religion has long prevailed in the West and can at times appear to be substantiated by current events. L. Carl Brown challenges this conventional wisdom with a fascinating historical overview of the relationship between religious and political life in the Muslim world ranging from Islam's early centuries to the present day.
Religion and State examines the commonplace notion—held by both radical Muslim ideologues and various Western observers alike—that in Islam there is no separation between religion and politics. By placing this assertion in a broad historical context, the book reveals both the continuities between premodern and modern Islamic political thought as well as the distinctive dimensions of modern Muslim experiences. Brown shows that both the modern-day fundamentalists and their critics have it wrong when they posit an eternally militant, unchanging Islam outside of history. "They are conflating theology and history. They are confusing the oughtand the is," he writes. As the historical record shows, mainstream Muslim political thought in premodern times tended toward political quietism.
Brown maintains that we can better understand present-day politics among Muslims by accepting the reality of their historical diversity while at the same time seeking to identify what may be distinctive in Muslim thought and action. In order to illuminate the distinguishing characteristics of Islam in relation to politics, Brown compares this religion with its two Semitic sisters, Judaism and Christianity, drawing striking comparisons between Islam today and Christianity during the Reformation. With a wealth of evidence, he recreates a tradition of Islamic diversity every bit as rich as that of Judaism and Christianity.
L. Carl Brown, Garrett Professor in Foreign Affairs Emeritus at Princeton University, is editor of Imperial Legacy: The Ottoman Imprint on the Balkans and the Middle East.
Table of Contents
Introduction Part One The Heritage 1. Setting the Stage: Islam and the Muslims 2. Islam, Judaism, and Christianity in Comparative Perspective: An Overview 3. Muslim "Church Government" 4. The Historical Bases of Traditional Muslim and Christian Political Theory 5. Unity and Community 6. The Roots of Political Pessimism 7. Muslim Attitudes Toward the State: An Impressionistic Sketch Part Two Convulsions of Modern Times 8. Islam and Politics in Modern Times: The Great Transformation 9. Meeting the Western Challenge: The Early Establishment Response 10. The Early Antiestablishment Response to the Western Challenge 11. From World War I to the 1960s: The Years of Muted Islamist Politics 12. The Return of Islam? 13. The Radical Muslim Discourse 14. Al-Banna, Mawdudi, and Qutb 15. Khomeini and Shi'ite Islamism Conclusion Notes Islam and Politics Past and Present: A Bibliographical Essay Works Cited Index
A grand synthesis of the relationships between religion and political life in the Muslim world, revealing both the continuities with premodern times and the distinctive dimensions of modern Muslim experiences.
— John Voll, Georgetown University
Dale F. Eickelman
An indispensable overview of religious and political ideas and practice in the Muslim majority world from the early Islamic centuries to the present. Brown vividly depicts the diversity of Muslim belief, practice, and experience with comprehensiveness, accessibility, and style.
