The Iranian Revolution has catalysed the preconceptions holding sway in the Western World about the character of Islam and its politics, based as they are on a mixture of imagined cultural superiority and a latent fear of a resurgence similar to the Arab conquests of the seventh and eighth centuries of the long Ottoman domination of Eastern Europe. This book constitutes a counterweight to such monolithic perceptions of Islam. It surveys the nature of opinion and of government in the larger Muslim regions of the world, and the position of Muslims in states where they are not the dominant population. Each contributor expresses his own assessment of the regional data, and the editor’s concluding chapter draws together the threads of a work which will form an important contribution to international understanding and a first breach in the ‘Green Curtain’ dividing East and West. First published in 1981.

The Iranian Revolution has catalysed the preconceptions holding sway in the Western World about the character of Islam and its politics, based as they are on a mixture of imagined cultural superiority and a latent fear of a resurgence similar to the Arab conquests of the seventh and eighth centuries of the long Ottoman domination of Eastern Europe. This book constitutes a counterweight to such monolithic perceptions of Islam. It surveys the nature of opinion and of government in the larger Muslim regions of the world, and the position of Muslims in states where they are not the dominant population. Each contributor expresses his own assessment of the regional data, and the editor’s concluding chapter draws together the threads of a work which will form an important contribution to international understanding and a first breach in the ‘Green Curtain’ dividing East and West. First published in 1981.

To be a Muslim is to be a part of a culture with distinct beliefs, ideas, institutional forms and prescriptive roles. Yet there is a complex inter-relationship between a system of knowledge and belief, such as Islam, and the immediate political, economic and social context of its adherents. This book aims to improve understanding of Muslim social and political action by examining a broad spectrum of Muslim discourse, both written and spoken, to see how meaning is formed by context. It is a broad comparative study and examines discourses produced in opposition to government as well as those produced, in Iran or Pakistan for example, under an authoritarian Islamic state. Through cogent analyses of socio-historical contexts and textual materials from East Java, Nigeria, Iran, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maghreb and Egypt, this book shows how to ‘read’ a familiar Islamic movement, period of change or textual source in a newer and better light. First published in 1987.

This is a detailed, critical study of the reforms which have been made in recent years to the law in the State of Pakistan with the ostensible objective of bringing it into accord with the requirements of Islam. Special emphasis is given to the period from 1977 when General Zia ul Haque adopted a period of Islamization. This is a field of investigation of considerable importance both for the advancement of legal and political theory and for practical purposes, especially as regards human rights. The author, trained both in Pakistan law and the concepts and practice of Islamic law, has been able to advance significantly our understanding of the doctrinal developments documented in this book. First published in 1994.

Islam is a burning topic in modern scholarship and contemporary world affairs. It is a subject poorly understood by Western observers, and in this book Professor Montgomery Watt takes a significant step towards its demystification. Montgomery Watt examines the crucial questions of traditional world-view and self-image which dominate the thinking of Muslims today. This traditional self-image causes them to perceive world events in a different perspective from Westerners – a fact not always appreciated by the foreign ministries of Western powers. Professor Watt presents a brilliant and critical analysis of the traditional Islamic self-image, showing how it distorts Western modernism and restricts Muslims to a peripheral role in world affairs. In a scholarly and incisive way, he traces this harmful image to its origins in the medieval period and then to the traumatic exposure of Muslims to the West in modern times. He argues that Muslim culture is suffering from a dangerous introspection, and in his closing chapters presents a constructive criticism of contemporary Islam, aimed at contributing to a truer, more realistic Islamic self-image for today. First published in 1988.

This book investigates, both theoretically and in considerable empirical detail, the teachings of Islam vis-a-vis politics. It defines the essence of Islamic civilization and highlights aspects of the colonial encounter as a background for understanding contemporary dynamics of the Muslim world. It shows, through textual, intellectual, and historical evidences, the linkage between Islam and politics and the nature of Islamic research methodology. Additionally it deals with a range of key issues and institutions including the law, the community, the legal and political order and the strategies and tactics of various Islamic movements. Useful distinctions are made between Islamic and Western perspectives which should prove illuminating to experienced professionals and students alike.

In recent years, events in the Islamic world have captured the attention of the West to an unprecedented degree. However, much of the media coverage of events like the Islamic revolution in Iran has merely reinforced current prejudices and misconceptions about Islam. This collection of essays, by specialists in a variety of disciplines, gives an impressionistic overview of contemporary Islam. Different areas of Islamic life are singled out for special attention; these include the problem of relations between Islam and the West, the role of the Sufi orders and the revival of religious fundamentalism, Islam and the feminine, Islamic economics and Islamic architecture. Geographically, the essays cover a wide area, ranging over Sudan, Turkey, Iran, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Each discussion should appeal to the layman and specialist alike and collectively they bring together a comprehensive range of material not often covered in one volume. Above all, they cut across the stereotypes of Islam found in the popular media, to reveal facets of a complex, living tradition often unsuspected in the West. First published in 1983.

A case study of a multi-ethnic Muslim state and a contribution to the study of the domestic functions of foreign policy. The book also addresses the real and imagined significance of Islam as a force in contemporary global politics.

This clear, balanced and authoritative survey of the history of the region is now fully up to date again. The text contains a general regional introduction, followed by a series of country-by-country analyses, and a section which places the Near East in the international context. Professor Yapp' s new edition covers recent dramatic events including the end of the Cold War, the Kuwayt Crisis of 1990/91, and the continuing conflict in Israel, as well as assessing the huge social and economic changes in the region. It will be essential reading for students and scholars concerned with modern middle eastern history and politics of the middle east.