This collection of 15 essays illuminates the evolution of political Islam from the era of the Prophet Muhammad to the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran. Under the auspices of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, Joseph Morrison Skelly brings together a team of experts to create a compelling, scholarly investigation of the interrelationship of Islam and politics. Divided into several topical sections, including early origins of Islamic politics, the development of jihad in an age of terror, and contemporary politics, Political Islam from Muhammad to Ahmadinejad: Defenders, Detractors, and Definitions is an in-depth exploration of the various dimensions of political Islam—for the international community, the Islamic world itself, and anyone who seeks a deeper understanding of this phenomenon. Political Islam from Muhammad to Ahmadinejad takes an evenhanded approach in considering competing interpretations of political Islam, successfully broadening the scholarly investigation of the topic. The work assesses political Islam across a broad chronological time frame and includes regional perspectives within the contexts of areas in Africa and the Middle East. Skelly and his colleagues tackle controversial issues head-on and provide an intellectual framework for advancing political Islam into new stages of economic development, intellectual renewal, and accommodation with constitutional democracy and human rights. Each contributor lends a unique and specialized perspective to the discussion on this timely topic.

From the first Arab-Islamic Empire of the mid-seventh century to the Ottomans, the last great Muslim empire, the story of the Middle East has been the story of the rise and fall of universal empires and, no less important, of imperialist dreams. So argues Efraim Karsh in this highly provocative book. Rejecting the conventional Western interpretation of Middle Eastern history as an offshoot of global power politics, Karsh contends that the region's experience is the culmination of long-existing indigenous trends, passions, and patterns of behavior, and that foremost among these is Islam's millenarian imperial tradition. The author explores the history of Islam's imperialism and the persistence of the Ottoman imperialist dream that outlasted World War I to haunt Islamic and Middle Eastern politics to the present day. September 11 can be seen as simply the latest expression of this dream, and such attacks have little to do with U.S. international behavior or policy in the Middle East, says Karsh. The House of Islam's war for world mastery is traditional, indeed venerable, and it is a quest that is far from over.

New Page Rave reviews greet Imani's latest parody. In this work of fiction, Amil probes the minds of Obama and Ahmadinejad with the skills of a brain surgeon, and shares their exchanges with the humor of a stand-up comedian. An amazing and astonishing engagement follows, in which the two presidential prizefighters hit each other with their best shots, in a meaty and oft-comical altercation that involves tossing out virtually every real or rumored misdeed of both men, with a number of stunning propositions and shocking developments along the way. This international sparring match runs the gamut of flashy moves and shady deals. Who will win this wild and brutal battle of wits between these two political heavyweights? The destiny of the world may depend on it. "Author Amil Imani is an Iranian-American writer, poet, novelist, essayist, literary translator, public speaker and political analyst who has been writing and speaking out about the danger of radical Islam both in America and internationally. He has become a formidable voice for the struggling people of his native land of Iran. Born in Tehran, Imani moved to the United States during the Islamic Revolution of 1979."

This book examines the evolution of global terrorism, including the people and groups who have perpetuated the worst attacks and the people and agencies working to stop them. Although it was 9/11 that first awakened many Americans to the very real threat of global terrorism, global terrorism has been a reality for millions of people around the world for many years, with both foreign and "home-grown" terrorists striking fear in their hearts. Whether driven by fanatical religious beliefs or radical political ideologies, the threat of global terrorism has been and will continue to be a serious issue, warranting vigilance from governments around the world. This one-stop resource highlights key points about global terrorism. Furthermore, it discusses the social, economic, religious, and cultural issues that are connected to terrorist activities. It also examines the history of global terrorism more broadly in order to contextualize current events, using tables, primary documents, personal essays, and other illuminating resources.

Describes and analyses the major developments in Iraq from the US-led invasion until 2010. This title provides an important external, international dimension to Iraq's post-war development through discussion of the central role played by the Iranian regime and its deep and multi-faceted involvement in the Iraqi internal scene.

Jihad, with its many terrifying associations, is a term widely used today, though its meaning is poorly grasped. Few people understand the circumstances requiring a jihad, or "holy" war, or how Islamic militants justify their violent actions within the framework of the religious tradition of Islam. How Islam, with more than one billion followers, interprets jihad and establishes its precepts has become a critical issue for both the Muslim and the non-Muslim world. John Kelsay's timely and important work focuses on jihad of the sword in Islamic thought, history, and culture. Making use of original sources, Kelsay delves into the tradition of shari'a--Islamic jurisprudence and reasoning--and shows how it defines jihad as the Islamic analogue of the Western "just" war. He traces the arguments of thinkers over the centuries who have debated the legitimacy of war through appeals to shari'a reasoning. He brings us up to the present and demonstrates how contemporary Muslims across the political spectrum continue this quest for a realistic ethics of war within the Islamic tradition. Arguing the Just War in Islam provides a systematic account of how Islam's central texts interpret jihad, guiding us through the historical precedents and Qur'anic sources upon which today's claims to doctrinal truth and legitimate authority are made. In illuminating the broad spectrum of Islam's moral considerations of the just war, Kelsay helps Muslims and non-Muslims alike make sense of the possibilities for future war and peace.

This book offers a critical deconstruction of radicalism as a political category and through this analytical approach seeks to interpret and assess the presidencies of the former Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. It contextualizes radicalism within a broader framework of Western-derived political categories, which are too frequently used to simplify the complexities of Iran's domestic political landscape, generally reducing any comprehensive and objective understanding of Iranian politics. Since the term radicalism is often misrepresented and misused in readings of contemporary Iran, this study examines several analogous Persian and English labels, exploring their different meanings, significances, and varied applications, in order to challenge any fixed and universal interpretations of radicalism as a concept. The political experience of Mahmud Ahmadinejad, who has been widely perceived as a radical politician, provides an ideal case study in this regard, offering valuable insight into how best to frame and interpret radicalism in post-revolutionary Iran. This book will be of particular interest to both scholars and students of Iranian Studies, but also to more general readers who are broadly interested in Middle Eastern studies, political science, and comparative politics.

This work is the third Small Wars Journal anthology focusing on radical Sunni Islamic terrorist and insurgent groups. It covers this professional journal’s writings for 2015 and complements the earlier Global Radical Islamist Insurgency anthologies that were produced as Vol. I: 2007–2011 (published in 2015) and Vol. II: 2012–2014 (published in 2016). This anthology, which offers roughly five hundred pages of additional analysis, follows the same general conceptual breakdown as the earlier works, and is divided into two major thematic sections—one focusing on jihadi terrorism, insurgency, and the Islamic State in context and the other focusing on US-allied policy and counter-jihadi and counter–Islamic State strategies.

Prior to 2011, popular imagination perceived the Muslim Middle East as unchanging and unchangeable, frozen in its own traditions and history. In Life as Politics, Asef Bayat argues that such presumptions fail to recognize the routine, yet important, ways in which ordinary people make meaningful change through everyday actions. First published just months before the Arab Spring swept across the region, this timely and prophetic book sheds light on the ongoing acts of protest, practice, and direct daily action. The second edition includes three new chapters on the Arab Spring and Iran's Green Movement and is fully updated to reflect recent events. At heart, the book remains a study of agency in times of constraint. In addition to ongoing protests, millions of people across the Middle East are effecting transformation through the discovery and creation of new social spaces within which to make their claims heard. This eye-opening book makes an important contribution to global debates over the meaning of social movements and the dynamics of social change.

This fascinating history surveys apocalyptic religion through time, setting it within a political and social context. End-Timers: Three Thousand Years of Waiting for Judgment Day examines the high and low points of millennial expectation across the centuries. It shows how and why such beliefs first developed in antiquity, and it explores how end-timers influenced events as varied as the persecutions of Hellenistic ruler Antiochus Epiphanes and Roman Emperor Nero, the Crusades, the settlement of North America, and the 20th-century debacles at Jonestown and Waco. Suggesting that anyone who wishes to understand the Middle East today needs to penetrate the background of modern fundamentalism within the three Semitic religions, the author illuminates the part played by Christian Zionists in promoting the return of the Jews to the "promised land" and the resulting formation of the state of Israel, as well as subsequent fundamentalist reactions within both Judaism and Islam. He also follows the birth of the "Christian Right" in 19th-century Britain and its development and growing influence in the United States. Finally, the book examines how religious end-timers confront the four horsemen of the 21st-century apocalypse: world population increase, depletion of natural resources, advanced weaponry, and global warming.