Religion and State - by L Brown (Paperback)

About the Book

Are today's radical Islamic groups restoring Islam to an earlier model of religiously inspired politics, as they claim, or are they introducing striking innovations? A leading scholar of the Muslim world investigates these issues in the context of the broad reaches of Muslim history.

Book Synopsis

If Westerners know a single Islamic term, it is likely to be jihad, the Arabic word for "holy war." The image of Islam as an inherently aggressive and xenophobic religion has long prevailed in the West and can at times appear to be substantiated by current events. L. Carl Brown challenges this conventional wisdom with a fascinating historical overview of the relationship between religious and political life in the Muslim world ranging from Islam's early centuries to the present day.

Religion and State examines the commonplace notion--held by both radical Muslim ideologues and various Western observers alike--that in Islam there is no separation between religion and politics. By placing this assertion in a broad historical context, the book reveals both the continuities between premodern and modern Islamic political thought as well as the distinctive dimensions of modern Muslim experiences. Brown shows that both the modern-day fundamentalists and their critics have it wrong when they posit an eternally militant, unchanging Islam outside of history. "They are conflating theology and history. They are confusing the oughtand the is, " he writes. As the historical record shows, mainstream Muslim political thought in premodern times tended toward political quietism.

Brown maintains that we can better understand present-day politics among Muslims by accepting the reality of their historical diversity while at the same time seeking to identify what may be distinctive in Muslim thought and action. In order to illuminate the distinguishing characteristics of Islam in relation to politics, Brown compares this religion with its two Semitic sisters, Judaism and Christianity, drawing striking comparisons between Islam today and Christianity during the Reformation. With a wealth of evidence, he recreates a tradition of Islamic diversity every bit as rich as that of Judaism and Christianity.

Review Quotes

Religion and State destabilizes entrenched conventional thinking about Islam and politics. This alone makes the book worth reading.-- "The Journal of Religion"

A balanced, scholarly assessment of Islamic politics.... A subtle and skilled rejoinder to the conventional schools of thought--and to fashionable assumptions about the 'post-Islamist' era.-- "Foreign Affairs"

Both an important and a useful book. It is important for the light it sheds on the politics and also on the societies of the Islamic world by daring to make an unfashionable but highly productive comparison between Islam and Christendom.... It addresses very precisely the questions in the minds of many upper-level undergraduates taking courses in Islamic political thought. It should, however, be read by everyone interested in politics in the Islamic world or in international relations.-- "Islamic Studies"

Brown... is one of the giants of Middle Eastern studies and his books get better and better.... A well-written and lucid study.-- "Middle East Quarterly"

Paves the way for grasping the Islamist phenomenon in its diverse forms in the contemporary Muslim world.-- "History of Religions"

The image of Islam as an inherently aggressive and xenophobic religion has long prevailed in the West and can at times appear to be substantiated by current events. This book challenges this conventional wisdom with a fascinating, historical overview of the relationship between religious and political life in the Muslim world, from Islam's early centuries to the present day.-- "The Middle East"

This timely book on Islam and politics... paves the way for grasping the Islamist phenomenon in its diverse forms in the contemporary Muslim world... Brown has offered us the necessary epistemological tools to come to grips with the complex theme of Islam and politics both in the classical and modern phases of the Muslim world.--Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi "Muslim World Journal"

About the Author

L. Carl Brown, Garrett Professor in Foreign Affairs Emeritus at Princeton University, is editor of Imperial Legacy: The Ottoman Imprint on the Balkans and the Middle East.