Routledge Handbook of Political Islam

This volume is a compendium of twenty-two articles on various aspects of Political Islam, and is to be recommended as an essential guide to anyone engaged in the study of the subject. Ever since the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, Political Islam has become a major issue in the world, one that is often difficult to understand for Western secularists raised on the principle of the separation of Church and State, Religion and Politics. The idea that theology should also be ideology is wholly alien to the modern Western mind-set. Further, it is all too easy to possess a monolithic view of Political Islam, fail to understand the difference between Taliban Afghanistan and Islamic Iran, between Al-Qaida, Hamas and Hezbollah, between the Ikhwan and Hizb alTahrir (HT). One of the major contributions of this book is to make such an understanding possible. Akbarzadeh provides an excellent preface to the volume in his essay on ‘The paradox of political Islam’, which is also a good introduction to the subject in general, and lecturers would be well-advised to direct their students to this chapter to gain an initial grasp of the topic. It would benefit journalists as well. Akbarzadeh observes that prior to the recent incarnation of Political Islam, the Muslim world was “monopolised by a self-serving political elite.” (p. 1)..