Power-sharing Islam? By 'Azzam Tamimi (ed). London: Liberty Publications, 1993, 192 pp.

Abstract

This work has ventured to fill a vast gap in contemporary Islamic
political thought. By relating relevant basic and secondary sources to contemporary
contexts in different countries, it has attempted to determine
the extent of harmony and discord between Islamic political theory and
current praxis. Being the first English-language publication on this subject
inevitably raises the expectations about its scholarly merit.
The first paragraph of the introduction highlights the anomalous
consequences of democratization in the Muslim world: reconciliation in
some and heightened adversity in others. In principle, democracy can be
reconciled with Islamic political thought. The editor then gives an historical
outline of misconceptions toward the role of democracy in Islamic
politics, which began with the Crusades and were reaffirmed during the
Iranian revolution of 1979. Turning to the twentieth century, revivalism,
which often has explicit political motivations, could be easily traced to
the collapse of the Islamic caliphate. It has always welcomed ...