Adopting an issue-oriented approach toward understanding Islamic andWestern political thought, Professor Abdul Rashid Moten places these two tradition'swithin historical and contemporary contexts. Moten's book thereby providesa comparative analysis of key issues, including Islamic research methodology,Islamic law, Islamic political and social order, strategies and tactics ofvarious Islamic movements, and the link between Islam and politics.In chapter 1, Moten examines the secular domination of Muslim thought andculture, arguing that secularism was imported into the Muslim world throughthe efforts of a Westernized elite. He adds that no such secular state had everexisted in the Muslim world. This owes much to the fact that there was (is) nocommon ground between Islam and secularism (p. 7). With secularism camenationalism, liberal political institutions, and the pursuit of a capitalist economicsystem. Nationalism, Moten notes, wedged its way into the Muslim world,dividing it into new nation-states and client states (p. 12). Since independence,secularism has failed to meet the socioeconomic and political needs of Muslimsocieties. The rising tide of Islamic revivalism against secular regimes inAlgeria and Turkey demonstrates disenchantment with the shattered secularistdreams in the Muslim world (p. 16).Chapter 2 attempts to scrutinize the inherent link between Islam and politics.The pillars of Islam, Moten writes, go beyond moral and spiritual upliftment;they entail both practical and symbolic significance in all aspects of life. InIslam, ethics sets the tone for politics, and the rules of political behavior originatefrom ethical norms. Political life cannot be separated from the broaderframework of the religious and spiritual life (p. 21 ). Islamic rulers have hardly,if ever, emphasized the separation of religion and politics. Since the nineteenthcentury, Islamic modernists and revivalists have debated the nature of this separation.The reemergence of Islam in Muslim politics and societies in the lastquarter of the twentieth century has pointed to a distinct Islamic order and thereawakening of Muslim identity. Moten cites, among others, Iran and Pakistanas examples of such a renaissance (p. 30). However, he fails to examine the divisiveeffects of lslamization programs in Pakistan (under Zia al-Haqq) and othercountries such as Sudan.The comparison between Western and Islamic methods of political inquiry isthe subject of close scrutiny in chapter 3. Moten maintains that the Islamic conceptionof polity is based on profound religious-cultural grounds and that religionand polity form an organic unity (p. 37). Likewise, ethics and politics are ...
Political Science
