Myth

This classic book explores the intellectual, political and social foundations of Islamism, and current Islamist groups across the Arab and Muslim worlds. Written by Egyptian philosopher and leading Arab intellectual, Fouad Zakariyya, and now available for the first time in English, this thoughtful book has no rival as a critical introduction to the nature of contemporary Islamism. The book was written in the aftermath of the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, and at the height of global debates about the relevance of Islamism in contemporary Muslim societies - especially in the light of Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979. Zakariyya offers an important analysis of the multiple voices of current Islamism. He explores various recent attempts to construct an Islamic social and political order, presenting a sustained critique of modern ideological currents and theological worldviews. He delves into the sensitive question of Shari'ah, civil society and democracy in the Arab world. Ultimately, Zakariyya argues for a secular and democratic civil society that is unconstrained by past interpretations of the Shari'ah. 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 HumanistEditor's Introduction PART ONE: SECULARISM, THE GULF STATES, AND ISLAM Chapter One: The Contemporary Muslim and the Search for Certitude Chapter Two: Secularism: A Civilizational Requirement Chapter Three: Critiques of Secularism Chapter Four: Islam and Religious Hierarchy Chapter Five: Petro-Islam Chapter Six: The Contemporary World According to Shaykh Sha'rawi PART TWO: IN DEBATE WITH HASSAN HANAFI Chapter Seven: The Future of Islamic fundamentalism Chapter Eight: The Evaluation of the Discourse of the Contemporary Islamist Movements Chapter Nine: Islamic Fundamentalism and the Verdict of History PART THREE: ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SHARI'AH Chapter Ten: An Invitation to Dialogue Chapter Eleven: The July Revolution and the Islamic Groups Chapter Twelve: The Implementation of Shari'ah: An Attempt at Comprehension Chapter Thirteen: The Implementation of Shari'ah: A New Dialogue Select Bibliography in Contemporary Arab Thought Index