Political Islam: Image and Reality

Political Islam is a modern phenomenon, with roots in the sociopolitical conditions of Muslim countries in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It is a product of the Muslim people's interaction--military, political, economic, cultural, and intellectual--with the West during the past two hundred years, a period when Western power has been in the ascendant and Muslims have become the objects, rather than the subjects, of history. As Ayob discusses, three, often unstated, assumptions have inspired much of the discussion in the West regarding political Islam over the last decade and half--especially since 9/11, including political Islam, like Islam itself, is monolithic, political Islam is inherently violent, and the intermingling of religion and politics is unique to Islam.