Modern Islamic Political Thought: The Response of the Shī‘ī and Sunnī Muslims to the Twentieth Century

International College Editions will bring to university, college, school and professional students, authoritative paperback books covering the history and cultures of the developing world, and the special aspects of its scientific, medical, social and economic development. The International College programme contains many distinguished se ries in a wide range of disciplines, some titles being regionally biased, others Annotation The revival and power of religious feelings among Muslims since the Iranian Revolution presents a complicated and often perplexing picture of the politics of the Islamic world in the modern era. What are the ideas which have influenced the direction of these trends? In this book, Hamid Enayat provides an answer by describing and interpreting some of the major Islamic political ideas, especially those expressed by Iranians and Egyptians, as well as thinkers from Pakistan, India, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. Enayat studies the political differences between the two main schools in Islam--Shi'ism and Sunnism, how their ideas have evolved in recent times and how far they have moved from confrontation to convergence. Enayat examines the concept of the Islamic state, and the Muslim repsonse to the challenge of alien and modern ideologies such as nationlism, democracy and socialism, as well as notions of Shi'i modernism, much neglected in Western writings. Enayat's classic work, a lucid and well argued interpretation of modern Islamic political thought, remains indispensable for an understanding of the current politics of the Muslim world Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction: the relevance of the past....Pages 1-17 Shī‘īsm and Sunnīsm: conflict and concord....Pages 18-51 The crisis over the Caliphate....Pages 52-68 The concept of the Islamic state....Pages 69-110 Nationalism, democracy and socialism....Pages 111-159 Aspects of Shī‘ī modernism....Pages 160-194 Back Matter....Pages 195-225 Written in response to the rebirth of Islamic political fervour following the Iranian revolution, this book looks at the major political influences in Shi'ite and Sunni Islam, it describes their beginnings and their major beliefs.