Description
Book SynopsisA firm grasp of Islamic fundamentalism has often eluded Western political observers. This work draws on political, postmodernist, and critical theory, as well as Middle Eastern studies, Islamic thought, comparative politics, and anthropology, to situate Islamic fundamentalist thought within a transcultural theoretical context.
Trade Review"[A] piercing book, lending the reader insights into the complex intermingling of religious and political ideas that are separate in the Western mind, but which form a spiritual union under Islam."--John A. C. Greppin, The Boston Book Review "Enemy in the Mirror offers an astute interdisciplinary study that calls on Western scholarship to take a short (irrational?) break from its instrumental rationality. This might help it to see that the scary face of Enemy/Other is depicted in a mirror that the modern rationality, for centuries, has held in front of its own face."--Alireza Shomali, International Journal of Middle East Studies
Table of ContentsPreface xi A Note on Spelling xv CHAPTER ONE Re-Marking Territories 3 Comparative Political Theory and Foundationalist Political Practice 8 The Politics of Naming: Defining Fundamentalism 16 CHAPTER TWO Projections and Refractions: Islamic Fundamentalism and Modern Rationalist Discourse 20 The Irrational Rational Actor: Theories of Islamic Fundamentalism 25 Meaning and Power: A Dialogic Model of Intepretation 36 Toward an Understanding of Islamic Fundamentalism 42 CHAPTER THREE A View from Another Side: The Political Theory of Sayyid Qutb 49 Sayyid Qutb: Radical and Martyr 53 Modernity as Pathology: Analysis and Exhortation in Signposts along the Road 55 Rationalism and Reenchantment 84 Conclusion: Beyond Orientalism 88 CHAPTER FOUR A View across Time: Islam as the Religion of Reason 93 Afghani and Islamic Philosophy 96 'Abduh and The Theology of Unity 105 Through the Back Door: Rationalism and Islamic Modernism 114 Coda: Khomeini and Shi'ite Fundamentalism 117 CHAPTER FIVE Inside the Looking Glass: Views within the West 123 The Crisis of Authority 127 The Decay of Morality 133 The Decline of Community 142 Modern Anxieties and Metaphysical Urges 150 CHAPTER SIX Conclusion: Cultural Syncretism and Multiple Modernities 154 Notes 169 Bibliography 217 Index 233
