Myth and Reality in the Contemporary Islamist Movement - Softcover

Zakariyya, Fouad

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0745322468 ISBN 13: 9780745322469

Publisher: Pluto Press, 2005

Synopsis

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About this title

Review:

Fouad Zakariyya is a former professor of philosophy at Cairo University, and the present work was written in the wake of the Iranian revolution in 1979, and the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981. Its subject matter is the confrontation between Islamism and secularism in the Muslim world. Professor Zakariyya concludes: 'Contrary to the claims of its critics, secularism is not the product of a peculiar society in a specific phase of its evolution, but is a necessary requirement for any society threatened by the oppression of tyrannical and authoritarian modes of thinking, in which millions of people are subjected to a systematic campaign to rob them of their ability to question, criticise, and think about the future. (David Hall, New Humanist)

Synopsis:

Fouad Zakaria's Reality and Fiction in the Contemporary Islamist Movement offers a sustained critique of the intellectual, political, and social foundations and contemporary manifestations of Islamism in both the Arab and Muslim worlds. Written in the aftermath of the assassination of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and at the height of the global debates about the relevance of Islamism in contemporary Muslim societies, especially after the triumph of the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, this book sheds important light on the multiple voices of current Islamism, their theological worldview, ideological currents, and their attempt to construct an Islamic social and political order in the contemporary period. While academic studies of Islamism abound, none compares to Zakaria's thorough inquiry into the nature of contemporary Islamism, its theological foundations and political practices. A well-known Egyptian philosopher and a leading Arab intellectual, Zakaria is in the perfect position to shoulder this important task of criticism.

In addition to treating religion and politics in contemporary Arab societies, Zakaria delves into the sensitive question of Sharl'ah, civil society and democracy in the Arab world. He argues for a secular and democratic civil society without being constricted by the past interpretations of the Sharl'ah.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pluto Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0745322468
• ISBN 13: 9780745322469
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 200