Books of Note

Visit CIP Bookstore For Books about Islam.

The Center for Islamic Pluralism is pleased to announce the co-publication of Executive Director Stephen Suleyman Schwartz's The Two Faces of Islam: Saudi Fundamentalism and Its Role in Terrorism in the Indonesian language.  The book, titled Dua Wajah Islam: Moderatisme vs. Fundamentalisme dalam Wacana Global, has appeared with a preface by the former Indonesian president, KH. Abdurrahman Wahid.  The edition was copublished with Libforall, The Wahid Institute, and Blantika.  

An event related to this publication will be held in Washington, DC, USA after the conclusion of the Holy Month of Ramadan.  Copies of the Indonesian edition will also be made available on request to CIP.

Radical Islam’s Rules: The Worldwide Spread of Extreme Sharia Law edited by Paul Marshall (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers) (Hardcover) a significant consequence of the rise of Islamism in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and other regions of the world is the rapid growth of a starkly repressive version of Islamic shari'a law, often fueled by funds and support from Saudi Arabia. Despite its importance, this worldwide growth of extreme shari'a is under-documented and little understood. Through a detailed comparative analysis of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, Nigeria, Malaysia, and Indonesia, the contributors to this timely book document its terrible effects on human rights—especially the status of women and religious freedom—of Muslims as well as religious minorities, and of democracy itself. This book also makes a compelling argument that such laws are a direct threat to the Western interest of advancing democracy and human rights. Democratic nations and international human rights groups lack any meaningful policy for dealing with the spread of extreme shari'a. Radical Islam's Rules concludes with policy recommendations for the United States regarding specific countries confronting extreme shari'a.

Excerpt: This book outlines the nature and spread in recent decades of this ex­treme version of Islamic shari'a law and details its effects, particularly on reli­gious freedom, the status of women, legal procedure, and democracy. It does not try to give an overview of the nature and history of shari'a as such in all its schools and complexity. It is not a treatise on Islamic history or law or theol­ogy. These are matters on which the authors may well disagree. Instead, many of the chapters are written by human rights specialists who have long docu­mented the current effects of such laws in destroying religious freedom, re-pressing women, subverting legal safeguards, and undercutting other human rights and the possibility of democracy itself. Two of them, Mehrangis Kar and Hamouda Bella, have themselves fallen afoul of such laws. It is an attempt to illuminate the current agenda of radical Islam and to expose the consequences for the people who fall under its rule.
To illustrate the spread, effects, and dangers of extreme shari'a, we have se­lected seven countries. They were chosen to give a geographical spread and also to show different stages of the effects of shari'a. Stephen Schwartz's and Mehrangis Kar's chapters on Saudi Arabia and Iran describe two countries where the implementation of extreme shari'a has gone the furthest, countries that make major efforts to export their ideology and fund its promoters throughout the world. Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, as described by Maarten Barends, Pakistan's legal system gradually incorporated more features of shari'a, including blasphemy laws that can carry the death penalty. Hamouda Bella's chapter details events in Sudan, which adopted extreme shari'a in 1983, precipitating a draconian rule and wars that have taken over two million lives. My own chapter, on Nigeria, describes how, beginning in 1999, twelve states in the north adopted shari'a laws, with results similar to Sudan and Pakistan. Fi­nally, to conclude the survey, Peter Riddell surveys Malaysia and Indonesia, both democracies, if flawed ones, that have resisted the implementation of extreme shari'a and where, during 2004, Islamists suffered major electoral setbacks. However, both countries still face pressure from radical groups, and in Indonesia ex­tremists are implementing shari'a at a local level.

To conclude the book, we have reprinted a report from the Rand Corporation that was written with Afghanistan in mind, giving suggestions on how a constitution can be written that recognizes the role of Islam in a country but does not open the door to extreme shari'a. Regrettably, recommendations of the type given in the report were not followed in Afghanistan, but, more hopefully, the Iraqi interim constitution adopted in February 2004 follows many of its guidelines. Of course, constitutions by themselves will not stop Islamization, as the example of Pakistan shows, but the report continues to give useful guidance on the relation of Islam and the state. Finally, Nina Shea surveys how American policymakers have failed to comprehend the nature and dangers of extreme shari'a and illustrates the problems this failure has caused. She ends with advice on how, politically, we can and should confront extreme shari'a. After learning of the depredations caused by such laws in the countries where they have been imposed, the reader will find this advice well worth taking.  

Zenit Reviews 'Radical Islam's Rules' From Freedom House

Morgana Sinclair on "Radical Islam's Rules" in The Weekly Standard, November 7, 2005

Unmasking Terror: A Global Review Of Terrorist Activities by Julie Sirrs, Mahan Abedin, Christopher Heffelfinger, William Odom (Jamestown Foundation) For over a year the Jamestown Foundation has published objective, fact-driven analyses of terrorist organizations and their operations, through its Terrorism Monitor publication. As the only periodical in circulation devoted to examining the war on terror and the struggle against al Qaeda, the newsletter offers a unique perspective comprising some of the world’s leading experts on international terrorism. Unmasking Terror is a compilation of articles from the first year of Terrorism Monitor.
Through the lively and understandable articles in Unmasking Terror, readers can quickly gain an appreciation for the complexities of the various terrorist groups, their motives, aims, and sources of support. The book is an excellent resource for private sector experts, policymakers and intelligence officials, and anyone seeking a greater understanding of the many challenges of combating terrorism.

Radical Islam In Central Asia: Between Pen And Rifle by Vitaly V. Naumkin (The Soviet Bloc and After: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers) (Paperback) In the early 1990s, the ideology of political Islam and Islamist organizations started to become an important factor in Central Asian political life. Until the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, however, Islamism in Central Asia had received scant attention abroad. That has since changed, and it is now difficult even to discuss Central Asia in the West without ref­erence to Islamist mobilization in the region. Nevertheless, few studies have examined the phenomenon comparatively, to place it in the context of Islamist movements elsewhere.

This volume presents case studies of three key Islamic political organi­zations in Central Asia: the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), the Hizb at-Tahrir al-Islami, or the Party of Islamic Liberation (HTI), and the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan (IRPT).

This volume represents a comparative study of these three Islamic or­ganizations, including the history, the ideology, and the organizational structure; the methods of political, military, and other types of activities; the power bases; the local and transnational links; the influence of exter­nal and internal factors; and the dynamics of transformation. This study can help us understand why Islamic political groups, including militant ones, have been able to garner support in moderate Islamic societies such as those of Central Asia. The author nurses an apprehension regarding the method of research that has to be employed for a successful analysis of this topic is based on the necessity not to confine it to a narrow regional scope but to put it into the context of broader Islamic intellectual-religious strands of thought and to examine how they were transmitted and absorbed in the specific conditions of Central Asia. Naumkin’s previous works on the history of Arab nationalism and Arab national/liberation movements helped to understand how their political, organizational, and military skills had been effectively used by modern radical Islamic movements, who have also benefited from the human and organizational resources of both na­tionalist and Marxist organizations? Naumkin paid special attention to the role of individual actors, which the author considers, if not central, at least equal to that of institutions.

The Two Faces of Islam: Saudi Fundamentalism and Its Role in Terrorism by Stephen Schwartz (Anchor) since its formation in 1932, Saudi Arabia has been ruled by two interdependent families. The Al Sa’uds control politics and the descendants of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab impose Wahhabism—a violent, fanatical perversion of the pluralistic Islam practiced by most Muslims. Stephen Schwartz argues that Wahhabism, vigorously exported with the help of Saudi oil money, is what incites Palestinian suicide bombers, Osama bin Laden, and other Islamic terrorists throughout the world.

Schwartz reveals the hypocrisy of the Saudi regime, whose moderate facade conceals state-sponsored repression and terrorism. He also raises troubling questions about Wahhabi infiltration of America’s Islamic community and about U.S. oil companies sanitizing Saudi Arabia’s image for the West. This sharp analysis and eye-opening expose illuminates the background to the September 11th terrorist attacks and offers new approaches for U.S. policy toward its closest ally in the Middle East. 

The new Bosnian-language edition of Two Faces of Islam (DVA LICA ISLAMA) is available from CIP.

Schwartz's Two Faces of Islam Published as Official Islamic Document

The Center for Islamic Pluralism is pleased to announce the co-publication of Executive Director Stephen Suleyman Schwartz's The Two Faces of Islam: Saudi Fundamentalism and Its Role in Terrorism in the Indonesian language.  The book, titled Dua Wajah Islam: Moderatisme vs. Fundamentalisme dalam Wacana Global, has appeared with a preface by the former Indonesian president, KH. Abdurrahman Wahid.  The edition was copublished with Libforall, The Wahid Institute, and Blantika.  

Sarajevo Rose: A Balkan Jewish Notebook by Stephen Schwartz (Saqi Books) Tracing the movements of the Sephardic Jews to the Balkans - following their expulsion from Spain during the Inquisition - Schwartz draws on place names, historical chronicles, epitaphs, folk ballads, banned books, and the media. He explores the travails, and remarkable cultural achievements of these communities who, hundreds of years after the trauma of forced exile, were almost entirely destroyed in the Holocaust.

The richness of the literature, poetry, myth, and printing, and the intermingling of Orthodox, Jewish, Catholic, and Muslim communities in the Balkans is explored - from Sabbatai Zvi, who declared himself the Messiah in the 17th century, and who, under pain of death chose conversion to Islam; the rare and wondrous scripts of Aramaic languages known almost from the beginning of human history; the evolution of the Jewish mercantile industry; to the 'Renaissance Jewish Traveller' Abraham Kohen Herrera, a convert under duress during the Inquisition who later discovered his Jewish heritage through mysticism, and who may have been the model for Shylock in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.

This is not only an historical analysis, but also a personal journey. The author's poignant descriptions of attempted pilgrimages to Jewish cemeteries and synagogues throughout the Balkans are testament to his yearning for historical pride and proof of existence. 

Sarajevo Rose Reviews: The New York Post, December 18, 2005 and Balkan Academic News Book Review

Review of Schwartz’s Sarajevo Rose by Khaleel Mohammed, Islamic Studies [Pakistan]

British journalist Tim Judah reviews Schwartz's Sarajevo Rose [and other books on Bosnia]

 See Price Guide for titles In Bosnian and Albanian and for specials.

For reviews of new books in English about Islam, see Wordtrade.com/themes.  For older book reviews on Islam and Sufism, see Wordtrade.com/religion/islam

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