The Islamic revivalism and the emergence of Islam as a major global political force

The Islamic revivalism and the emergence of Islam as a major global political force

The subject of this section is the Islamic revivalism and the emergence of Islam as a major global political force. The chapter by Mandaville discusses the initial dynamics of Islamic politics and “Islamism” through the analysis of the life, ideas and activities of some of the key Muslim pioneering thinkers and activists. The article by Cesari analyses the dynamics and critical implications of the interaction between nationalism and political Islam in the Muslim world. The subject of the three readings by Husain is a detailed discussion of Islamic revival, and its organization into various typologies.  The chapter by Vali Nasr deals with the dynamics of change and “pluralism” in the Muslim world. The chapter by Wright discusses the dynamics of “counter-jihad” in the Muslim world, the article by Bayat presents his provocative thesis on “post-Islamism” in the context of the  recent revolutionary changes in the Arab world, , and al-Anani’s article discusses the difficult choices facing Muslim social movements and revivalists, especially after the Arab Spring. The collection of views gathered in the article“Voices within Islam: Four Perspectives on Tolerance and Diversity” presents views of the more recent reformist trends in Islamic revivalist thought. Omid Safiintroduces what he identifies as “Progressive Islam”, and Abou al Fadl, discusses the encounter between “extremist” and “moderate” Islam.

In the required video/audio section, the audio lecture by Rajaee which was delivered at FIU as part of the MESC lecture series, discusses various trends of contemporary Islamism and its encounter with modernity. Richard Bulliet, the leading historian of Islam, from Columbia University, gives an overview of history of Muslim thinking and practices in governance (watch from minute 4 on). James Piscatori, one of the world leading scholars of political Islam, provides a sweeping overview of the doctrinal evolution and the practical challenges facing the contemporary Muslim activists and thinkers globally in this lecture at University of London in 2016. The PBS Documentary is particularly relevant to the understanding of the origins of the radical tradition among Islamic revivalist thinkers from Qutb to bin Laden.