Redefining Islamic Political Thought : A Critique in Methodological Perspective

Contents Introduction Issues in Islamic political thought. I 1. Classical political thought. 2. Some misperceptions about Islamic political theory. 3. Islamization of political science. II 4. Liberation struggle or Islam (reflections on the Mujahidin movement of India). 5. Arab nationalism. 6. Islamic Shura and western democracy. 7. Islamic pluralism. Appendix. Biographical notes. Glossary. Bibliography. Index. The suicide bombings on July 7 2005 in underground stations of London left the world stunned angry and uncomprehending. The shocking situation of devastating September 11 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon of United States had already created on atmosphere of hatred against the followers of Islam. Since these horrifying acts were committed in the name of Islam the western media the politicians the bureaucrats and even the citizens portrayed having a crusading mentality of the past being aggravated by the recent so called jihadist activities throughout the world a religion that was reactionary anti modern inhumane undemocratic and ethno centric that left no scope for any democratization dialogue and pluralism. In this authoritative book the author successfully tries to seek the roots of this coloured image of Islam not only in the orientalists and western scholars conceptualizations inherent in the crusading factors but also in the shortcomings of the methodologies applied by the classical political theorists of Islam and modern Muslim intellectuals as well. The crisis lies in the thought in the minds in the intellectualism as well as in the classical orthodoxy as the book analyses. The scholar explicitly explains the pristine teachings of the Qur'an and the Sunnah relating to various aspects of Islamic political thought such as secularism socialism nationalism democracy modernization and pluralism and evaluates the reflections of contemporary Muslim Ulama reformers activists and revivalist intellectuals. He providing an honest critique to Islamic political legacy presents a blue print to Islamize the discipline of political science in the contemporary world in order to cope with the incoming challenges of the twenty first century. 287 pp.…