Tensions and Transitions in the Muslim World

Louay Safi is Director of Research for the International Institute of Islamic Thought, Editor of the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, and author of The Challenge of Modernity: The Quest for Authenticity in the Arab World (University Press of America, 1994).

• Chapter 1 PrefaceChapter 2 IntroductionChapter 3 Democratization and the Islamic State: Islam and the Secular State; State and Society in Traditional IslamChapter 4 Visions of Reform: Competing Visions of Reform; Arab Nationalism: Forging a New Political Identity; Islamic Reform and RadicalismChapter 5 Islam Law and Human Rights: Islamic Law (Shari'ha) and Society; Human Rights and Islamic Legal Reform; Human Rights and Cross-Cultural DialogueChapter 6 Islam in a Global Order: Islam and the West: Resurgence and AmbivalenceChapter 7 Appendix A: The Covenant of Medina; Appendix B: Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Appendix C: Universal Islamic Declaration of Human RightsChapter 8 NotesChapter 9 GlossaryChapter 10 IndexChapter 11 Bibliography

.... it nevertheless is a valuable contribution to contemporary debates over Islamic reform in general and political Islam in particular. Safi's attempts to overcome the dichotomous and polarized notions of what an Islamic political program entails by concentrating on the rich experiences and intellectual traditions of Islamic reformism that are conducive to formulating and articulating a pluralistic and democratic politics is particularly useful to the reader.