Piety and Politics: Islamism in Contemporary Malaysia (Religion and Global Politics)

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By Joseph Chinyong Liow
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Pages: 288, Date: 2009-04-07
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0195377087

Description:
Malaysia, home to some twenty million Muslims, is often held up as a model of a pro-Western Islamic nation. The government of Malaysia, in search of Western investment, does its best to perpetuate this view. But this isn't the whole story. Over the last several decades, Joseph Liow shows, Malaysian politics has taken a strong turn toward Islamism.

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the growing role of Islam in the last quarter century of Malaysian politics. Conventional wisdom suggest that the ruling UMNO party has moved toward Islamism to fend off challenges from the more heavily Islamist opposition party, PAS. Liow argues, however, that UMNO has often taken the lead in moving toward Islamism, and that in fact PAS has often been forced to react.

The result, Liow argues, is a game of "piety-trumping" that will be very difficult to reverse, and that has dire consequences not only for the ethnic and religious minorities of Malaysia, but for their democratic system as a whole.

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The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan

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By Robert D. Crews, Amin Tarzi
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Pages: 448, Date: 2008-02-28
ISBN-10 : 067402690X

Description:
The Taliban remain one of the most elusive forces in modern history. A ragtag collection of clerics and madrasa students, this obscure movement emerged out of the rubble of the Cold War to shock the world with their draconian Islamic order. The Taliban refused to surrender their vision even when confronted by the United States after September 11, 2001.

Reinventing themselves as part of a broad insurgency that destabilized Afghanistan, they pledged to drive out the Americans, NATO, and their allies and restore their "Islamic Emirate."

The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan explores the paradox at the center of this challenging phenomenon: how has a seemingly anachronistic band of religious zealots managed to retain a tenacious foothold in the struggle for Afghanistan's future? Grounding their analysis in a deep understanding of the country's past, leading scholars of Afghan history, politics, society, and culture show how the Taliban was less an attempt to revive a medieval theocracy than a dynamic, complex, and adaptive force rooted in the history of Afghanistan and shaped by modern international politics. Shunning journalistic accounts of its conspiratorial origins, the essays investigate broader questions relating to the character of the Taliban, its evolution over time, and its capacity to affect the future of the region.

Offering an invaluable guide to "what went wrong" with the American reconstruction project in Afghanistan, this book accounts for the persistence of a powerful and enigmatic movement while simultaneously mapping Afghanistan's enduring political crisis.

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Muslims on the Americanization Path?

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By Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, John L. Esposito
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Pages: 384, Date: 2000-05-11
ISBN-10 : 0195135261, PDF 2.2 Mb

Description:
There are now more Muslims in America than in Kuwait, Qatar, and Libya combined. It is the second largest religion in France and the third in Britain, Germany, and North America. Leaving aside immigration and conversion, birth rate alone ensures that in the first part of the twenty-first century Islam will replace Judaism as the second largest religion in the United States.

Like all religious and ethnic minorities in America, Muslims must confront a host of difficult questions. Can they become part of a pluralistic American society without sacrificing their identity? Can Muslims be Muslims in a state that is not governed by Islamic law? Will the American legal system protect Muslim religious and cultural differences? Is there a contradiction between demanding equal rights and insisting on maintaining a distinctively separate identity? In this wide-ranging volume, fourteen distinguished scholars take an in-depth look at these issues and examine the varied responses and opinions of the Muslim community.

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Doctrines of Shi`i Islam: A Compendium of Imami Beliefs and Practices

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By Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani
Publisher: I. B. Tauris
Number Of Pages: 264
Publication Date: 2001-12-07
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 1860647804

Description:
This wide-ranging, comprehensive overview of the main theological and jurisprudential tenets of Shi'i Islam deals with such issues as the nature of being and the problem of evil. The range of themes covered, its precise style, and the means by which traditional Shi'i beliefs and practices are substantiated render this book both informative and original.

It offers a valuable insight into mainstream ideological thinking within the official religious establishment in Iran today.

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The Next Front: Southeast Asia and the Road to Global Peace with Islam

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By Christopher S. Bond, Lewis M. Simons
Publisher: Wiley
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: 2009-09-15
ISBN-10 : 0470503904

Description:
A U.S. senator and Pulitzer Prizewinner, both experts on Southeast Asia, offer a bold new approach to address radical Islam and fight global terror

The next front in the war on terror is in Southeast Asia, warn Senator Christopher Bond (R-MO) and Lewis Simons, both leading experts on the region.

The U.S. has bankrupted its policies in dealing with the Islamic world. As Fundamentalist Islam gains traction in Southeast Asia, backed by Saudi money, the U.S. must act swiftly to re-establish its credibility there and help defuse global terrorism.

Bond and Simons present a bold plan to accomplish this key goal by substituting smart power (civilians in sneakers and sandals) for force (soldiers in combat boots) in Indonesia and the other nations of Southeast Asia, home to the world's greatest concentration of Muslims.

Introduces a critical new "smart power" approach to combat global terror
Written by two experts on Southeast Asia with extensive contacts in Washington and overseas
Tackles a crucial challenge to U.S. foreign policy and President Obama's administration
Examines a wide range of views and people, from Osama bin Laden-trained armed terrorists to radical clerics to western-trained officials who plead for Americans to come to their countries to teach, start small businesses, and improve health care
The Next Front offers exactly the kind of fresh, out-of-the-box thinking the United States needs to rebuild its credibility and transcend its foreign policy failures.

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