British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies

ISSN: 1353-0194 (Print) 1469-3542 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cbjm20

Modern Islamist Movements: History, Religion, and

Politics

Md. Mizanur Rahman

To cite this article: Md. Mizanur Rahman (2015) Modern Islamist Movements: History,
Religion, and Politics, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 42:4, 680-682, DOI:
10.1080/13530194.2014.905291

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13530194.2014.905291

Published online: 23 May 2014.

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Download by: [University of Tasmania] Date: 30 September 2015, At: 22:38

 BOOK REVIEWS

In Part III, Chapter 12 by H. Akin Unver is a well-written piece that offers a

historical analysis of the internationalisation of the Kurdish question in Europe
and the USA, and how this paved the way for strengthening the Sevres Syndrome
in Turkey. The book ends with Joshua W. Walker’s balanced contribution to this
sensitive issue and acknowledges certain key issues that have been neglected
throughout the book, such as coming to terms with the past (p. 224), the AKP’s
harsh reactions to dissent (p. 231) and the Uludere incident (p. 232).
Overall, the book is highly descriptive and it will dissatisfy readers who are
expecting original and innovative academic analysis of a protracted conflict.
It lacks the Kurdish perspective, which constrains its scope. However, it is useful
in the sense that it reveals a similar point of view that echoes the current mind-set
of policy-makers in Turkey. Combined with other sources that reflect more on the
Kurdish perspective, it will add to a comprehensive understanding of this conflict
as well as clearly display the gulf of perceptions between the main actors of the
peace process in Turkey.
British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 2015.42:680-682.

Bahar Baser q 2014

University of Warwick
B.baser@warwick.ac.uk
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13530194.2014.905290

Modern Islamist Movements: History, Religion, and Politics

Jon Armajani
West Sussex, Wiley-Blackwell Publishers, 2012, ISBN 978-1-4051-1742-5,
US $41.95, 248 pp.

Theologist Jon Armajani’s recent book Modern Islamist Movements demonstrates

a historical scrutiny of rationales for violence found within Islam. Navigating
through the modern Islamic intellectuals’ contributions to Islamic ideas, the author
attempts to portray how these ideologies are employed to mobilise Islamist
movements. The ideologies have been contextualised in several Islamic
movements in Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Afghanistan. While
characterising Islamism, Armajani claims that Islamists believe four fundamental
features: first, Islamic principles must dictate every aspects of life; second, Islam
contains the truth and other religions are either false of or limited validity; third,
sexual relations are still traditional; and finally, western secular cultures promote a
range of consumerist and permissive lifestyles which are antithetical to Islam
(p. 1). He further illustrates how Islamists legitimise violence, twisting the history
of early Islam, and challenge secular education through multiple Quranic
interpretations.
In the book, the key Islamic deologues are divided into two groups; one group
has ideologies to reform but no political motive based on religion, whereas the
other attributes ideologies to pursue Islamic political agendas. The first group
incorporates Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Muhammad Abduh and Muhammad Rashid
Rida, whose ideologies envisioned Islamic renovation through the anti-colonial
movement and called for refurbishment of the educational and legal systems

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(Chapter 2). They believed that Muslim scholars must come out of their existing
pedagogy to embrace the blessings of western modernity. In fact, they argued for
the synthesis and mutual tolerance between western and Islamic ideas.
The second group comprises Muhammad ibd Abd al-Wahab, Hasan al-Banna,
Syed Qutub and Sayyed Abu ala Mawdudi. The most influential is Mohammad
Wahab, who conceived the ‘oneness of God’ and emphasised going back to the
fundamentals of Islam. He opposed idolatry and believed that people could
express their concerns directly to God without intercession of any kind. Likewise,
Banna urged people to follow ‘the true faith and teaching of Islam’ (p. 49) and
encouraged the ‘Islamic state’.
Syed Qutub embraced Islam as the ultimate solution to the tremendous
challenges faced by the individuals, societies and political structures of the
Muslim world (pp. 54 –60). He applied the notion jahiliyya (ignorant) to people
who believed in secularism. Qutub’s interpretation of Islamic history, Islam’s
sacred texts and his conception of Islam’s role in the twentieth century would have
British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 2015.42:680-682.

an enormous influence on a number of Islamist leaders and organisations. Finally,

Mawdudi believed that the Quran contains the complete and perfect revelation of
the human being, the ‘ultimate causes of man’s success’ (p. 166). He considers that
the Quran and Hadith contain one set of monolithic injunctions that are relevant
for all time and all places.
Later, Armajani demonstrates how modern Islamists are employing the ideas
of these intellectuals and Islamic rhetoric to radicalise people. The Palestinian
Liberation Movement (PLO), Hamas and other Islamic groups radicalise people
using Islam’s glorious past as a tool to take arms against enemies (Chapter 3).
Yasir Arafat frequently utilised Quranic imagery to inspire the Palestinian to
establish a state of justice, freedom, sovereignty, self-determination and human
dignity (p. 98). Similarly, following the path of Banna’s Muslim Brotherhood,
the Palestinian intifada and Hamas posed a terrible challenge to Israel using
warfare and jihadi activities. Chapter 4 depicts how Saudi Arabia has been
governed on the basis of Muhammad Wahab’s ideology, known as Wahhabism,
executing its sturdy sharia and Quranic laws. Soon after, Saudi Arabia began
exporting Wahhabism and patronising Islamists in different Muslim countries.
But the author maintains that because of Saudi Arabia’s self-contradictory
policies, counter-Wahhabism has been established represented by al-Qaida and
the Taliban for two reasons: first, becoming allies with western countries,
particularly the United States; and second, widening the rich– poor gap in Saudi
Arabia (pp. 138– 139).
In addition, the Islamist movement in Afghanistan (Chapter 6), Armajani
argues, is repelled by misinterpretation of Islamic history and the Wahhabism of
Saudi Arabia. Funding from Saudi Arabia, and logistics from the USA, helped to
generate warriors at madrassas in Afghanistan to fight against Soviet. But,
ironically, those warriors later joined the Taliban and other radical groups. They
developed their understanding of governance of social and family life through
interpretation of classical Islamic texts and history. For example, Taliban leader
Mullah Mohammad Omar declared, ‘We want to live a life like the prophet lived
fourteen hundred years back and jihad is our right’ (p. 203). Leaders of
fundamentalist groups, namely Osama Bin Laden, claimed that their victory was a
direct result of God’s intervention. Bin Laden justified his attacks on the US
embassy in Nairobi, Tanzania, and 9/11 by describing the United States as the

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enemy of the Muslim. Finally, in Pakistan (Chapter 5) Islamism developed based

on the ideology of Mawdudi, who did not believe in democracy or secularism but
regarded them as anti-Islamic and called for a Pakistan ruled by sharia. Being
influenced by his ideologies, fundamental Islamic groups have no faith in
democracy and foresee establishing an Islamic state ruled by sharia.
Above all, the book postulates that modern Islamist movements gained genesis
and legitimacy through the misinterpretation of classical Islamic history and
sacred texts as well as misuse of ideologies of modern Islamic scholars.
Undoubtedly, the book makes an outstanding contribution to the cognition of
Islamist movements. It should form part of the recommended reading for scholars
and policymakers with a special interest in topics related to Islamist movements as
well as non-specialist readers with an interest in the field.

Md. Mizanur Rahman q 2014

South Asian University, New Delhi
British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 2015.42:680-682.

mizdipi88@gmail.com
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13530194.2014.905291

How to Read the Qur’an: A New Guide, with Select Translations

Carl W. Ernst
Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2011, x þ 273 pp.

Ernst outlines his reasons for writing the book, as well as the aims and ideas that
will be discussed, in his introduction entitled ‘The Problem of Reading the Qur’an’
(pp. 1 – 19). The book is aimed at university students, particularly those working in
Islamic Studies and Comparative Religion, digesting the main current scholarship
on the Qur’an, as well as a wider (non-Muslim) audience. Ernst’s approach is what
makes this book so different to other introductions to the Qur’an since he takes a
literary approach, which means that it does not include any discussion of topics or
subject areas such as ‘theology’, ‘women’ and so on.
Chapter 1 (‘The History and Form of the Qur’an and Practices of Reading’,
pp. 20 – 75) is a long chapter covering various aspects of the Qur’anic text at great
speed, including: the history, codification and collection of the Qur’an, revisionist
theories, the Qur’an’s relation to the Bible, asbab al-nuzul, sira, the suras and
ayas, the bismillah, rhyming prose, the Qur’an and poetry, chronology, the
interpretation of whole suras, chiastic structures, and rhetorical devices, including
iltifāt, interpretation, ‘scientific exegeses’, abrogation, translations, inimitability,
and the internet.
Chapter 2 (‘Early Meccan Suras’, pp. 76– 104) examines the styles, themes and
contents of the early Meccan suras. After a brief sketch of the stylistic features of
the early Meccan period (pp. 76– 78), Ernst presents an analysis of the structures
of Q. 51 (al-Dhāriyyāt), Q. 80 (‘Abasa) and Q. 68 (al-Qalam), focusing on the
symmetry of the suras (pp. 78 – 83). Ernst’s arguments for symmetry are
interesting, but such analyses can be subjective, and there is the possibility of
reading symmetry into the Qur’an, but Ernst provides a suitable overview of the
method. The rest of the chapter provides a helpful reflection on the apocalyptic

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