Description
The denunciation of Islamic fundamentalism has slowly evolved into an attack on all Muslims and Islam. This hostility is rooted in the belief that Islam cannot be integrated into secular and liberal society. However, as Olivier Roy makes clear, Muslim intellectuals have made it possible for Muslims to live concretely in a secularized world while maintaining the identity of a "true believer." They have formulated a language that recognizes two spaces: that of religion and that of secular society.Western society is unable to recognize this process, Roy argues, because it assumes religious practice is embedded within a specific, traditional culture. Instead, Roy shows that new forms of religiosity, such as Islamic fundamentalism and Christian evangelicalism, have come to thrive in posttraditional, secular contexts precisely because they remain detached from any cultural background. In recognizing this, Roy recasts the debate concerning Islam and democracy. He distinguishes between Arab and non-Arab Muslims, hegemony and tolerance, and the role of the umma and the sharia in Muslim religious life. Supporting his arguments with extensive research, Roy demonstrates the limits of our understanding of contemporary Islamic religious practice and the role of Islam as a screen onto which Western societies have projected their own identity crisis.
About the Author
Olivier Roy is research director at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and lectures at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques (IEP) in Paris. His books with Columbia University Press include The Politics of Chaos in the Middle East; Globalized Islam; and, with Amel Boubekeur, Whatever Happened to the Islamists? Salafis, Heavy Metal Muslims, and the Lure of Consumerist Islam.
Reviews
A work of sustained deconstruction, [Roy] takes apart the myths, cliches and prejudices which characterise the current conversation about Islam. The Economist [A] brilliant little book. -- Philip H. Gordon Foreign Affairs A remarkable book: articulate, original, lucid, without a paragraph that fails to contain an interesting thought. -- Claire Belinski New York Sun [A] valuable little monograph. -- Martin Levin Globe & Mail Roy provides a useful corrective to the interpretation of Islamism. -- John Gray Harper's Superb... a welcome contribution to political science, sociology, religious studies--and statecraft. Choice [A] cogent work. Middle East Journal An insightful analysis. -- Talip Kucukcan Insight Turkey Rich in theoretical analysis. American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences
Awards
Winner of Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2008.
Book Information
ISBN 9780231141031
Author Olivier Roy
Format Paperback
Page Count 144
Imprint Columbia University Press
Publisher Columbia University Press