Between the State and Islam (Woodrow Wilson Center Press) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521783526 ISBN 13: 9780521783521

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2001

Synopsis

Until recently, the study of the Middle East has focused almost exclusively on Islam and on the regime, especially on its non-democratic aspects. It has done so at the expense of accounting fully for the forces of scepticism, liberty, and creativity that struggle against Islamic conformism and state hegemony. Strangely, there seems to be no scholarly awareness of the simple fact that however influential religion appears in word and deed, however evident the trappings of state authority, people come into being, thrive, marry, raise families, think, laugh, and cry without regard to - indeed, sometimes in utter defiance of - the strictures of religious or state authority. This volume examines how Middle Eastern peoples in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries lived and flourished while trying to shape their political and religious surroundings outside the formal structures of established religion and the state.

About this title

Book Description

Traditionally, the study of the Middle East has focused on Islam and on the regime, without accounting for the contrary forces of scepticism, liberty, and creativity. This volume examines how Middle Eastern peoples in the past two centuries lived and flourished outside the structures of established religion and the state.

Synopsis

Heretofore, the study of the Middle East has focused almost exclusively on Islam and on the regime, especially on its nondemocratic aspects. It has done so at the expense of accounting fully for the forces of skepticism, liberty, and creativity that struggle against Islamic conformism and state hegemony. This volume examines how Middle Eastern peoples in the 19th and 20th centuries lived and flourished while trying to shape their political and religious surroundings outside the formal structures of established religion and the state.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521783526
• ISBN 13: 9780521783521
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 270
• Editor: Butterworth Charles E., Zartman I. William