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Ewing, K.P.

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PublicationsI S I M  N E W S L E T T E R  1 / 9 8 35A D V E R T I S E M E N TB o o k pr ese ntat i o nA r g ui n g S a i nt h oo dM o d e rn i t y ,  Ps y ch oa n al ys i s ,  an d I s l a mD uke Uni v er s i ty Pr essD urha m a nd L o ndo n1 9 97 ,  x i v  + 3 12  p p.ISB N 0 -8 22 3 -2 02 4 -XK AT H E RI N E  P R A T T  E W I N GB oo k pr esenta t i onWo me n ,  I s la mi s ms  a n d  th e  S t at e :Co nt e mp or a ry  F e mi ni s ms  i n  E gy ptMa cmi l la n a nd St .  Ma r t in ’s  P re ss  Lo ndo n a nd New  Y o rk1 99 8 ,  xvi i  + 2 8 4  pp .ISBN  0 -33 3 -6 88 1 7- 1 p a per b ac kA ZZ A  K A R AM  In Arguing Sainthood, I examine Sufi reli-gious meanings and practices in Pakistan andtheir relation to the westernizing influences ofmodernity in the shaping of the postcolonialself. The Muslim p i r or sufi saint is a spiritualguide, a healer, a worker of miracles, an objectof devotion at shrines, and a focus of social andpolitical controversy as Pakistanis debate thetrue nature of Islam and its proper position in amodern nation-state that also sees itself as anIslamic state. With debates over the legitimacyand meanings of the sufi p i r as my focus, I criti-cally reinterpret theories of subjectivity, exam-ining the production of identity in the contextof a complex social field of conflicting ideolo-gies and interests. I challenge the notion of amonolithic Islamic modernity in order toexplore the lived reality of individuals, particu-larly those of p i rs and their followers. Furthermore, I examine how competing ide-ologies that have emerged in the process ofnation-building in Pakistan are played out inindividual experience among ordinary Pakista-nis. Secularism, Islamic modernism, Islamicreform, fundamentalism, and ‘traditionalism’are all platforms on which political leaders seekto shape government policy and public opin-ion. The p i r has been a target of much of thisideological conflict about the place of Islam inthe Pakistani nation-state. But the p i r also playsan important role in the lives of individuals,who often turn to him for healing in times ofpersonal crisis and conflict. I, therefore, focuson the p i r as a nodal point where these politi-cal and personal processes come together. Atthis intersection, I observe the extent to whichordinary people are shaped or determined by adiscourse of modernity and by the ideologiesthat arise out of this discourse. Just as the p i roperates as a kind of nexus, this book stands atthe nexus of several lines of academic inquiry.Drawing on my training in clinical and theoret-ical psychoanalysis as well as on historicalsources, Sufi textual sources, and two years ofanthropological fieldwork, I offer a basis for re-theorizing postcolonial studies. ♦Dr Katherine Pratt Ewing is associate professor int h e Department of Cultural Anthropology at DukeU n i v e r s i t y .This book presents an analysis of the con-temporary power dynamics between Islamistthought and praxis, women’s activisms andstate policies. Although it focuses on Egypt(during the presidencies of Nasser, Sadat andMubarak), the theoretical framework is rele-vant for other contexts involving this triangle.The book shatters three myths: that Islamism isa uniform and ultimately violent freak; that thestate discourse in the Middle East is merelyconfronted with an ideology it is incapable ofhandling; and that women in the Arab/Muslimworld, lack feminist vigour. This study high-lights how the mediocrity of Islamist opposi-tion is but a reflection of the State’s own polit-ical discourse. Far from arguing that Islamismsimply oppresses women, the book narrates arelatively unheard of phenomenon – I s l a m i s tf e m i n i s m. This is to be compared to two otherdominant streaks – Muslim and secular femi-nism – within a rife, evolving and diverse femi-nist discourse. The book brings out the plurali-ty of Islamist praxis, the multiple meansthrough which the Egyptian government hasreacted and adapted to Islamist discourse overthe years, and the heterogeneity of feministvoices in Egypt. Urging for a politics of differ-ence, the book emphasizes that power isindeed ubiquitous, and that most actors can,and are, shaping the nature, impact, and futureof political discourse in the region. ♦Dr Azza Karam is senior programme officer oft h e Gender, Middle East, and Applied ResearchProgrammes, International IDEA, Stockholm.B o o k p re senta ti o nT he  C ha l le n g e  of  F un d a me n ta l is m :P ol it i c al  I s la m a n dt h e  N e w Wo r ld  D is o rd e rB A S S AM  T I B IThe process of globalization, mostlyaddressed in terms of the spread of McWorld, ismisleading. There is no globalization when itcomes to culture/civilization. On the contrary,the politicization of world religions in an age ofcrisis, both structural and also a crisis of mean-ing, is a source of fragmentation. Culture is a pro-duction of meaning and not patterns of con-sumption. The resort to religion for the articula-tion of dissent results in translating religiousbeliefs into political convictions. This politiciza-tion of religion is addressed in this book as reli-gious fundamentalism. The new ideology posesa challenge to the world order of secular states.With regard to non-Western civilizations, reli-gious fundamentalism becomes a vehicle for theclaims of both de-secularization and de-West-ernization. Religious fundamentalism is a globalpolitical phenomenon that can be observed inall major world religions. However, the very factthat among the existing civilizations only Islamand the West have universal claims, explains thefocus on Islam. Giving Islam a political imprintresults in a ideology called political Islam. Thisideology has little to do with the religion of Islamor with the history of the related civilization, forpolitical Islam is not a religious belief but rather apolitical ideology which is both anti-Westernand anti-secular. It has the claim of establishinga new world order being an alternative to theprevailing one designed by Western norms andvalues. However, instead of this envisaged worldorder we are currently encountering de-stabi-lization effects resulting in disorder. Followingthe first two chapters that provide the generalworld-political framework for the rise of funda-mentalism, the focus is set on the world of Islamand in particular the Middle East. It is argued thatthe Gulf War of 1991, in the West, is nothingmore than a fading memory, while in the MiddleEast the confrontation between Saddam Hus-sein and the West continues to be vital in theanti-Western attitudes of the people in thatregion. The Gulf War left a ‘Saddam Husseinlegacy’ now mixed with the thriving politiciza-tion of religion resulting in political Islam.I attempt to add to the political analysis of theobserved anti-Western attitudes of Islamic fun-damentalists. In this further background analysisI touch upon the crisis of meaning growing fromthe exposure of the world of Islam to the socio-cultural set-up of cultural modernity. In concretepolitical terms, the rise of political Islam leads toan increasing cultural fragmentation in terms ofa decline in consensus and also to the diffusionof power in world politics. In the Middle Eastitself, religious fundamentalism is the greatestdestabilizing challenge to the existing order ofnation-states in the region. The ideology of the‘Islamic State’ is the framework for the de-legit-imization of the existing secular states in theMiddle East. In my view, a proper interpretationof Islam is compatible with democracy andhuman rights and thus draws clear linesbetween Islam, as a religion, and the abuse ofthis very religion for developing an ideologynamed political Islam. In rejecting Western uni-versalism I base my plea on cross-culturalgrounds for averting a clash of civilizations. Thisclash is in fact between fundamentalist ideolo-gies, not between the civilizations themselves.The book clearly displays the great diversity anddeep strife within the world of Islam, where themajor political movements can be identified asan expression of religious fundamentalism. Theconclusion is that the claim to establish an alter-native world order results in creating only disor-der. Thus the challenge of fundamentalism is achallenge of disorder and disarray.♦Dr Bassam Tibi is professor of International Relationsat the University of Göttingen, Germany, and the 1998Robert Bosch Fellow at Harvard University.Publications3 6 I S I M  N E W S L E T T E R  1 / 9 8Bo o k p r esenta t i onS h at t er i n g t h e  M yt hI sl a m be y on d  V io le n c ePr i nce to n Uni v er s i ty Pr essPr i nce to n,  N ew  Jer sey19 9 8 , x ix  + 2 37  p p.ISBN  0 -69 1 -0 57 6 9-9B R U C E  B .  L A W R E N C EIslam is often portrayed, especially in West-ern media, as an alien, violent, hostile, andmonolithic religion, whose adherents resem-ble Osama bin Laden, the Afghan terrorist,more than Aliya Izetbegovic, the President ofBosnia-Herzegovina. But the realities of con-temporary Islam are closer to the latter thanthe former. Islam, as I argue, is a religionshaped both by its own postulates and ethicaldemands and by the specific circumstances ofMuslim people in the modern world. The lasttwo-hundred years have brought many chal-lenges for Muslims, from colonial subjugationthrough sporadic revivalism to elitist reformmovements and, most recently, pervasivestruggles with fundamentalism. During eachperiod, Muslims have had to address internaltensions, as well as external threats. Today’sMuslims are mostly Asian and non-Arab, withMuslim women assuming increasingly greaterprominence, in Asian countries from Iran toIndonesia. My book calls attention to theregion-specific features of Southeast Asia, andto the new developments in Malaysia whichput Islam and corporate culture as a higher pri-ority than Islam and cultural combat. Only bylooking at the entire spectrum of contempo-rary Muslim societies can we avoid the pitfallsof stereotyping and falsification, such as besetV.S. Naipaul in his tragic travelogue, ‘BeyondBelief’. The realities of Muslim life and thehopes of modern-day Muslims far exceed theslanderous muckraking of headline journalistsand falsetto novelists alike. ♦Dr Bruce B. Lawrence is professor of Islamic Studiesand Chair of the Department of Religion at DukeU n i v e r s i t y .A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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