Islamic Activists The Anti-Enlightenment Democrats

In the hysteria surrounding Political Islam, it is difficult to find analysis that doesn't feel the need to justify the existence of Islamic leaders or react to the West's fear of 'extremists'. In Islamic Activists, Deina Ali Abdelkader shows us what Islamic leaders and activists believe and what they think about just governance.Explaining and comparing Islamist ideas, including those about leadership, justice and minority rights, Abdelkader explains how these have been represented in the writings of important historical and contemporary Islamists. In doing so, Abdelkader reveals that democracy is not the sole preserve of those who support Enlightenment values, offering the reader a chance to understand the populist non-violent side of Islamic activism. This includes an examination of the ideas of the leaders of the populist Islamist movements in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco.Islamic Activists is essential reading for serious students and scholars of Islamic political theory and action.

Deina Ali Abdelkader has taught at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Tufts University, and Cairo University. She is a member of the Islamic Jurisprudential Council of North America and an executive committee member of Religion and Politics in the American Political Science Association (2004-6).

1 Orientalism, Islamic Activism and Rational Thought? 
2 The Rudiments of an Islamic Just Society: The Contribution of Abu-Ishaq al-Shatibi
3 Qaradawi: Modernization is Key
4 Ghannouchi: Minorities and Equality 
5 Yassin: The Just Ruler
6 Reason and Faith: The Islamists versus the “Stillborn God”  
Notes
Index