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Princeton Readings in Islamist Thought: Texts and Contexts from al-Banna to Bin Laden
The most authoritative anthology of Islamist texts
This anthology of key primary texts provides an unmatched introduction to Islamist political thought from the early twentieth century to the present, and serves as an invaluable guide through the storm of polemic, fear, and confusion that swirls around Islamism today. Roxanne Euben and Muhammad Qasim Zaman gather a broad selection of texts from influential Islamist thinkers and place these figures and their writings in their multifaceted political and historical contexts. The selections presented here in English translation include writings of Ayatollah Khomeini, Usama bin Laden, Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasan al-Banna, and Moroccan Islamist leader Nadia Yassine, as well as the Hamas charter, an interview with a Taliban commander, and the final testament of 9/11 hijacker Muhammad Ata.
Illuminating the content and political appeal of Islamist thought, this anthology brings into sharp relief the commonalities in Islamist arguments about gender, democracy, and violence, but it also reveals significant political and theological disagreements among thinkers too often grouped together and dismissed as extremists or terrorists. No other anthology better illustrates the diversity of Islamist thought, the complexity of its intellectual and political contexts, or the variety of ways in which it relates to other intellectual and religious trends in the contemporary Muslim world.
This anthology of key primary texts provides an unmatched introduction to Islamist political thought from the early twentieth century to the present, and serves as an invaluable guide through the storm of polemic, fear, and confusion that swirls around Islamism today. Roxanne Euben and Muhammad Qasim Zaman gather a broad selection of texts from influential Islamist thinkers and place these figures and their writings in their multifaceted political and historical contexts. The selections presented here in English translation include writings of Ayatollah Khomeini, Usama bin Laden, Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasan al-Banna, and Moroccan Islamist leader Nadia Yassine, as well as the Hamas charter, an interview with a Taliban commander, and the final testament of 9/11 hijacker Muhammad Ata.
Illuminating the content and political appeal of Islamist thought, this anthology brings into sharp relief the commonalities in Islamist arguments about gender, democracy, and violence, but it also reveals significant political and theological disagreements among thinkers too often grouped together and dismissed as extremists or terrorists. No other anthology better illustrates the diversity of Islamist thought, the complexity of its intellectual and political contexts, or the variety of ways in which it relates to other intellectual and religious trends in the contemporary Muslim world.
560 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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March 18, 2019
There is no better summary of the evolution of "Islamist" thought(that I've encountered). It's a tricky thing to even name. "Islamic radicalism" gives a validity to the thinkers/doers getting to the root of something in Islam. "Islamic extremist" suggests being extreme is somehow bad or that these are the only extremes one can take it. "Jihadi" is only fitting for some of the thinkers. We all know what is being gestured at. Not just "muslim" thinkers, but supposedly the scary one's that represent a shift in the discourse and the emergent 'movements' that have shaken the world even outside the "house of Islam".
This text shows that it's not just Islamophobes that weave the Muslim Brotherhood, AlQaida, and the Iranian Revolution together, but also shows the diversity in such trajectories. The contextual intros in this book aided in my reading of the pieces and understanding of the trends and thinkers greatly. I have many many times studied the Iranian revolution and gleaned great insight, but the section on Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the Islamic judicial teachings which he was coming out of and the drastic shift it was that he entered politics.
Perhaps I will write a longer review with more digestions of the different sections. But I'll finish saying that the piece on Qutb was one of the best I've read as well and really showed the appeal of such "conservative" interpretations and really hammered home how many of these "Islamists" are also a product of being locked up in some prison, being tortured and networking with others who share your moral foundations and spirit.
This book stops short of the birth of the Islamic State, but supplementing Zawahiri's Letter to Zarqawi and other texts would be helpful in catching one up to the current developments or the Management of Savagery if you want to get into the horrid strategic and tactical specifics of related Islamist projects in the present and recent past(spoiler they employ taking advantage of chaotic situations and brutal necropolitics). Also I would add Shariarti as someone to read if you want to think through other Iranian revolutionary thinkers that employed a different Islamic thought here. And also perhaps pairing readings on Arab Nationalism as a sort of parallel current in the "Arab world."
This text shows that it's not just Islamophobes that weave the Muslim Brotherhood, AlQaida, and the Iranian Revolution together, but also shows the diversity in such trajectories. The contextual intros in this book aided in my reading of the pieces and understanding of the trends and thinkers greatly. I have many many times studied the Iranian revolution and gleaned great insight, but the section on Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the Islamic judicial teachings which he was coming out of and the drastic shift it was that he entered politics.
Perhaps I will write a longer review with more digestions of the different sections. But I'll finish saying that the piece on Qutb was one of the best I've read as well and really showed the appeal of such "conservative" interpretations and really hammered home how many of these "Islamists" are also a product of being locked up in some prison, being tortured and networking with others who share your moral foundations and spirit.
This book stops short of the birth of the Islamic State, but supplementing Zawahiri's Letter to Zarqawi and other texts would be helpful in catching one up to the current developments or the Management of Savagery if you want to get into the horrid strategic and tactical specifics of related Islamist projects in the present and recent past(spoiler they employ taking advantage of chaotic situations and brutal necropolitics). Also I would add Shariarti as someone to read if you want to think through other Iranian revolutionary thinkers that employed a different Islamic thought here. And also perhaps pairing readings on Arab Nationalism as a sort of parallel current in the "Arab world."
Displaying 1 of 1 review