Conclusion

Islamism as a distinct political ideology is a twentieth-century phenomenon. While Islam addresses all aspects of relations between individuals and relations between the individual and God, including politics, it does not prescribe a particular form of government.

Recommended reading

There has been a proliferation of books on Islam, Islamism and Islamist movements since the events of 11 September 2001. However, many of the books published shortly after this date have been of a journalistic nature or hastily put together. In order to get a firm grounding in the subject, it is useful to look at the historical and philosophical underpinnings of political Islam. W. Montgomery Watt's classic Islamic Political Thought (Edinburgh, 1968) and Antony Black, The History of Islamic Political Thought: From the Prophet to the Present (Edinburgh, 2001) are a good starting point as well as the very readable books by Karen Armstrong, Islam: A Short History (London, 2000) and Muhammad: Biography of the Prophet (London, 2001). For a more contemporary focus, John Esposito (ed.), Political Islam: Revolution, Radicalism or Reform? (Boulder, CO, 1997), Nazih Ayubi, Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Arab World (London, 1991), Olivier Roy, The Failure of Political Islam (London, 1994), Ahmad Moussalli, Moderate and Radical Islamic Fundamentalists: The Quest for Modernity, Legitimacy, and the Islamic State (Gainesville, FL, 1999), Gilles Kepel, Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam (London, 2002), Barry Rubin, Revolutionaries and Reformers: Contemporary Islamist Movements in the Middle East (Albany, NY, 2003) and Barry Rubin, Political Islam: Critical Concepts in Islamic Studies (London, 2003).

For those interested in the Islamic revolution in Iran, see Misagh Parsa, Social Origins of the Iranian Revolution (New Brunswick, NJ, 1998), Mansoor Moaddel, Class, Politics, and Ideology in the Iranian Revolution (New York, 1992), Masoud Kamali, Revolutionary Iran: Civil Society and State in the Modernization Process (Brookfield, IL, 1998) and Saskia Gieling, Religion and War in Revolutionary Iran (London, 1999).

Islamism in Egypt is of particular interest for current events as it produced both Sayyed Qutb, whose ideas of jahiliyya and perpetual revolution still inspire Islamists, and Ayman Zawaheri, arguably the most important man in al-Qaeda. Richard P. Mitchell’s seminal work The Society of the Muslim Brothers (London, 1969) is an excellent point from which to start the study of Egyptian Islamists. It is only surpassed by Gilles Kepel’s The Roots of Radical Islam (London, 2005). More specific works on Qutb are Adnan Musallem, From Secularism to Jihad: Sayyid Qutb and the Foundations of Radical Islamism (Westport, CT, 2005) and Sayed Khatab, The Power of Sovereignty: The Political and Ideological Philosophy of Sayyid Qutb (London, 2006).

A number of good books have been written about Islamic resistance movements. The most authoritative on Hizb’allah are Hala Jaber, Hezbollah: Born with a Vengeance (New York, 1997), Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, Hizbullah: Politics and Religion (London, 2001), Ahmed Nizar Hamzeh, In the Path of Hizbullah (New York, 2004), Naim Qassem, Hizbullah: The Story from Within (London, 2005) and Augustus Richard Norton, Hezbollah: A Short History (Princeton, NJ, 2007).

For a general discussion on Islam in South-East Asia, covering Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, see Ahmad Ibrahim, Readings on Islam in Southeast Asia (Singapore, 1985) and Robert W Hefner and Patricia Horvatich, Islam in an Era of Nation States: Politics and Religious Renewal in Muslim Southeast Asia (Honolulu, 1997). Hussin Mu tali b's Islam and Ethnicity in Malay Politics (Singapore, 1990), Robert W. Hefner, Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratisation in Indonesia (Princeton, NJ, 2000) and Bahtiar Effendy, Islam and the State: The Transformation ofIslamic Political Ideas and Practise in Indonesia (Singapore, 2001) provide more detailed analyses of Malay and Indonesian Islam. Militant Islam in South-East Asia is discussed by Paul J. Smith (ed.), Terrorism and Violence in Southeast Asia: Transnational Challenges to States and Regional Security (Armonk, NY, 2005). A closer look at Islamist separatists in the southern Philippines and southern Thailand is provided by T. J. S. George, Revolt in Mindanao: The Rise of Islam in Philippine Politics (Kuala Lumpur, 1980), W. K. Che Man, Muslim Separatism: The Moros ofSouthern Philippines and the Malays ofSouthern Thailand (Singapore, 1990), Thomas M. McKenna, Muslim Rulers and Rebels: Everyday Politics and Armed Separatism in the Southern Philippines (Berkeley, CA, 1998), Eric Gutierrez, Rebels, Warlords and Ulama: A Reader on Muslim Separatism and the War in the Southern Philippines (Quezon City, 2000) and Joseph Liow, Muslim Resistance in Southern Thailand and Southern Philippines: Religion, Ideology, and Politics (Washington, DC, 2006). Books on militant Islam in Indonesia, especially JI, include Kumar Ramakrishna and See Seng Tan, After Bali: The Threat of Terrorism in Southeast Asia (Singapore, 2003), Greg Barton, Jemaah Islamiyah (Singapore, 2005), Zachary Abuza, Militant Islam in Southeast Asia: Crucible of Terror (New York, 2006) and Ken Conboy, Second Front: Inside Asia’s Most Dangerous Terrorist Network (Jakarta, 2006).

Relations between Islam and the West have become the subject of heated debate ever since Samuel Huntington's The Clash ofCivilisations and the Remaking of the World Order (London, 1996), which is worth reading to obtain at least one side of the argument. Less polemical assessments of the same topic can be found in John Esposito, The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? (New York, 1999) and Fawaz Gerges, America and Political Islam: Clash of Cultures or Clash of Interests? (Cambridge, 1999).

On the subject of international jihadism, globalized Islam and al-Qaeda, numerous books have been appearing since 11 September 2001. Olivier Roy's Globalised Islam: Fundamentalism, De-territorialisation and the Search for a New Ummah (London, 2000) looks at the subject from a broad perspective while most other books focus on al-Qaeda. The latter are often sensationalized, overly focused on profiling or based on non-attributable, often incorrect, intelligence sources. Nevertheless many are worth reading, even if just to gain a feeling for the challenges of researching such a subject as well as obtaining a firm grasp on the debate among scholars, such as Rohan Gunaratna, Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror (London, 2002), Paul Williams, Al Qaeda: Brotherhood of Terror (Parsippany, NJ, 2002), Jason Burke, Al-Qaeda: Chasing Shadows of Terror (London, 2003), Muntasir Zayatt, The Road to Al-Qaeda: The Story of Bin Laden’s Righthand Man (London, 2004) and Mohammad Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou, Understanding Al-Qaeda: The Transformation ofWar (London, 2007).

Finally, for those interested in primary sources, a range of short writings can be found in Mansoor Moaddel and Kamran Talattof (eds), Contemporary Debates in Islam: An Anthology of Modernist and Fundamentalist Thought (New York, 1999). The writings and speeches of those who have inspired revolution include Sayyid Qutb, Milestones (Indianapolis, 1990), Imam Ruhollah Khomeini, Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations ofImam Khomeini (Berkeley, CA, 1980) and Bruce Lawrence (ed.), Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama Bin Laden (London, 2005), while those who have inspired reform include Mahathir Mohamad, The Challenge (Subang Jaya, 1986) and Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Islam Hadhari: A Model Approach for Development and Progress (Petaling Jaya, 2006).