Political Islam

Here are some books I've found useful while doing research on political Islam.

General Historical Background

Hourani, Albert. 1991. A History of the Arab Peoples. London: Faber and Faber.

An excellent overview of the history of the Arab world, from the rise of Islam to the 1980s. Provides a good balance of social, political, economic and religious history. Good bibliography of English, French, German and Arabic sources.

Cleveland, William. 2000. A History of the Modern Middle East. Oxford: Westview Press.

A very good, vigorously written overview, mainly covering political history from the 18th century to the present. Vast bibliography of works in English.

Political Movements and the Islamic Revival

Mitchell, Richard P. 1969. The Society of the Muslim Brothers. London: Oxford University Press.

The standard work on the Muslim Brotherhood before 1954. Well-written and thorough, but somewhat out of date in its analysis. Particularly useful for the Second World War and its aftermath. The author had an excellent command of primary sources, and good contacts with the Brotherhood during his research in Egypt.

Carré, Olivier and Gérard Michaud. 1983. Les Frères musulmans : Egypte et Syrie (1928-1982). Paris: Gallimard.

A collection of excerpts from primary source materials, with commentary. Gives useful glimpses of particular moments in history, but without presenting an overarching narrative.

Kepel, Gilles. 1984. Le Prophète et Pharaon : Les mouvements islamistes dans l'Egypte contemporaine. Paris: La Découverte. Translated as The Prophet and the Pharaoh, Saqi Books, 1985.

Kepel's strong point is his textual analysis of primary sources. He is mainly interested in the most radical of the Islamic political movements of the 1970s in Egypt. With a keen sensitivity, he shows how their discourse reflected intolerable social and economic problems, and mobilised narratives from the distant past to denounce the iniquities of the present.

Lia, Brynjar. 1998. The Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt: The Rise of an Islamic Mass Movement 1928-1942. Reading, UK: Garnet.

A sensitive and perceptive analysis of the reasons for the Brotherhood's meteoric rise in the 1930s. Sheds light on a period hardly covered by Mitchell, drawing on a great deal of previously unpublished primary source material.

Wickham, Carrie Rosefsky. 2002. Mobilizing Islam: Religion, Activism and Political Change in Egypt. New York: Columbia University Press.

Taking her cue from Gramsci, the author makes convincing arguments about the role of ideas in the development of opposition movements in an authoritarian context, and about the ways in which regimes can undermine opposition. She spent several years in Egypt studying the Islamic revival, interviewed many participants, and discusses a range of primary source material. Paints a vivid and fascinating picture of the social, political and economic reasons for the Brotherhood's return to prominence in the 1980s.

Burgat, François. 2002. L'Islamisme en face. Paris: La Découverte. Translated as Face to Face With Political Islam, I. B. Tauris, 2003.

Tackles Western stereotypes head on, demolishing the mainstream media's image of political Islam. Mainly deals with North Africa and Egypt. Includes interviews with a number of prominent Islamic activists. Based on 15 years of research in the Islamic world.

Mahmood, Saba. 2005. Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

The author, a leftist anthropologist, studied the pedagogical practices of women in Egyptian mosques run by women, for women. Marshalling arguments from Foucault and Judith Butler, but carrying them in a highly original direction, she develops an intriguing critique of the liberal tradition.

-- BenjaminGeer - 13 Jul 2005
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