Review Essay

Encyclopaedic Works on Islamic Political
Thought and Movements in the

Twenty-first Century
Books Reviewed: Gerhard Bowering, et. al., eds., The Princeton Encyclope-
dia of Islamic Political Thought (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University
Press, 2013); John L. Esposito and Emad El-Din Shahin, eds., The Oxford
Handbook of Islam and Politics (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013);
Emad El-Din Shahin, ed., Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics, 2 vols.
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014). 

During last two decades or so, many encyclopedias have been published on
Islam and its history – classical to contemporary – with a modern approach,
among them Richard Martin’s two-volume Encyclopedia of Islam and the
Muslim World 1 and John L. Esposito’s Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern
Islamic World.2 Other encyclopedic works focus on specific eras, like Josef
Meri’s Medieval Islamic Civilization.3 One more category is that of Islam and
politics, political Islam, and/or the various facets, complexities, and intricacies
of Islamic movements. This essay focuses on three works that discuss the
themes and issues that fall in this last category.

The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought (EIPT)4 is a
wide-ranging one-volume publication, as well as the first encyclopedia and
reference work on Islamic political thought. It includes articles ranging from
the classical to the contemporary periods and incorporates the eras from the
Prophet’s time to the present. Written by prominent scholars and specialists
in the field, The Oxford Handbook of Islam and Politics (OHIP)5 is a single-
volume sourcebook that provides a comprehensive analysis of “what we know
and where we are in the study of political Islam,” thereby enabling scholars,
students, and policymakers “to appreciate the interaction of Islam and politics
and the multiple and diverse roles of Islamic movements” both regionally and
globally (p. 2; italics mine). By analyzing Islam and politics through a detailed
and profound study, the two-volume Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Pol-



itics (OEIP) provides in-depth coverage of the “political dimensions of Islam
and the Muslim world” (pp. xvi, xix).

EIPT, a richly informative and innovative reference work on Islamic po-
litical thought, contains many articles that are not only purely “political” in
nature and scope but also fall within the social, political, and economic cate-
gories as well. Consisting of 418 alphabetically arranged entries/articles, writ-
ten by an “international team of [249] specialists,” the volume is divided and
listed for easy access into five categories: (1) “Central Themes” and sources
of Islamic political thought (15 entries) under the direction/editorship of Ger-
hard Bowering; (2) “Historical Developments, Sects and Schools, Regions
and Dynasties” (108 entries), edited by Patricia Crone; (3) “Modern Concepts,
Institutions, Movements, and Parties” (91 entries) under the direction/editor-
ship of Muhammad Qasim Zaman; (4) “Islamic Law and Traditional Islamic
Societies” (106 entries) under Devin J. Stewart’s editorship; and (5) “Thinkers,
Personalities, and Statesmen” (98 entries), edited by Wadad Kadi.

Most of the contributors authored one or two entries; however, 24 of them
contributed four to six entries each. The inclusion of new entries and articles
on contemporary trends in political thought provides the framework for un-
derstanding the ongoing events in Islamic history. EIPT also features maps of
Muslim empires and populations; guides readers to further research through
bibliographies, cross-references, and an index; and includes an “Alphabetical
List of Entries” (pp. xxi-xxiii) and a “Topical List of Entries” (pp. xxv-xxvii).
These are its plus points, as they are informative and very useful and helpful
for general readers.

Among the editorial team, Stewart has contributed twelve entries, which
is the maximum number of articles contributed by a single author. Besides
this, editor-in-chief Bowering has contributed a very thorough “Introduction”
as well, which is, in my opinion, a book in itself on the genesis, development,
and modern trends in Islamic political thought. This section also includes
discussions on the “Islamic World Today in Historical Perspective” as well
as on the evolution and “Rudimentary Foundations” of Islamic political
thought and its development, especially from Europe’s Middle Ages to the
present. 

For Bowering,

Islam has not created a comprehensive system of political thought able to
integrate the disparate elements informing its current stage of development.
Emerging currents in political Islam are attempting to articulate ideologies
and organize movements that aspire to inner purity, ethical strength, personal

86 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 32:4



freedom, and collective dignity. Burdened with political and cultural frag-
mentation and labeled by the West as a violent religion, Islam thirsts for a
new paradigm of political thought that will enable it to construct its future
as a peaceful order in a pluralistic world. (p. xviii)

This encyclopedia includes a wide diversity of topics. In order to show
the innovative, and up-to-date approach, I provide below a brief assessment
and evaluation of some the selected interrelated articles – those topics, themes,
and issues that have gained importance due to the various post-9/11 trends
and developments in the discourses and discussions, such as “Consultation
(Shura), Democracy, Secularism” and “Minorities, and Jurisprudence of
Minorities.”

“Consultation” (pp. 116-17, Roswitha Badry) and “Democracy” (pp. 128-
30, Mirjam Künkler) are two major concepts as far as the Islam-democracy
discourse is concerned – both in Islam and in Muslim societies – due to 9/11
and the Arab Spring. For example, Badry argues that shūrā, although a
Qur’anic concept, has been a “core value of a newly propagated Islamic sys-
tem” commonly referred as “Islamic democracy” since the nineteenth century
and especially from the final decades of twentieth century. And Muslims have
provided a broad spectrum of theories, especially four “tendencies,” ranging
from “radical Islamists” to their opposites and from “pragmatic moderate Is-
lamists” to “secular scholars and intellectuals” (pp. 116, 117). In practice,
Badry writes, the idea of consultation has proven to be “compatible” with var-
ious political systems, whether “monarchial or republican” and with “assem-
blies of different kinds” (p. 117).

For Künkler, who approaches democracy from the general conceptual
perspective and its place in and vis-à-vis religion, as well as in Islamic law
and in the Muslim world, democracy does not require a “strictly secular order
in institutional terms” (p.129). She opines that there is an “Arab democracy-
gap,” at least as far as the Middle East is concerned – this has been changing,
however, since the Arab Spring – and identifies its “causes,” ranging from,
among others, “the prevalence of rentier economies among the gulf states to
the Arab-Israeli conflict that allows authoritarian incumbents to suppress in-
ternal dissent in the name of security concerns” (p. 129).

Similarly, the authors of “Minorities” (pp. 340-46, Yohanna Friedman)
and “Minorities, Jurisprudence of [Muslim]” (pp. 346-48, Alexandre Caeiro)
approach the concepts and issues from twin perspectives. Friedman treats both
“Muslim Minorities under Non-Muslim Rule” and vice versa and also tackles
the issue of fiqh al-aqallīyāt, upon which Caeiro further elaborates in a sepa-

Parray: Islamic Political Thought and Movements 87



rate article. Friedman argues that (a) the question of majority-minority rela-
tionships has been relevant to Muslims ever since the emergence of Islam (p.
340); (b) “barely any Muslim minorities lived under non-Muslim rule” during
the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal eras (p. 341); and (c) from the 1990s, the
emergence of significant Muslim minorities in non-Muslim countries provided
“the impetus” to develop the “legal theory of Muslim minorities” (p. 341).
For him, on the other hand, the legal framework applied to non-Muslim mi-
norities in Muslim-majority countries during Europe’s medieval period was
“the dhimma system” (p. 343). This system entered a “new phase in the 20th
century” with the emergence of numerous new states in the Middle East, Asia,
and Africa (p. 343).

Moreover, Caeiro remarks that this issue/theory emerged after WWII as
a “distinct field of Islamic legal research” and that it has been called a “modern
phenomenon,” although Muslims have lived under non-Muslim rule through-
out history (p. 346). This is still a contentious issue, although Taha Jabir al-
‘Alwani and Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the two pioneering figures who have been
promulgating it, have worked to make it an established issue. Its success de-
pends upon “envisioning Islam as a ‘civil’ religion contributing to the common
good” (p. 348).

Furthermore, regarding the issue of secularism’s place in Islam (pp. 489-
90), Henri Lauziere argues that in general terms secularism means the “insti-
tutional separation between religion and state” or between “church and state,”
but that in theory and practice this separation can assume various “forms” (p.
489). Its Muslim proponents argue that Islamic history is replete with examples
of “de facto secularism.” In the twenty-first century as well, Muslim thinkers
like Abdullah An-Na‘im and Abdulkarim Soroush continue “to defend the va-
lidity and even the necessity of institutional secularism” (p. 490).

Similar inter-related cases are: (1) “Civil Society” (pp. 98-99, Armando
Salvatore), “Constitutionalism” (pp. 112-15, Andrew March), and “Pluralism
and Tolerance” (pp. 419-27, Gudrun Krämer); (2) “Jihad” (pp. 273-82, John
Kelsay), “Violence” (pp. 588-90, Thomas Sizgorich), and “Non-Violence”
(pp. 396-97, Ahmed Afzaal); (3) “Fundamentalism” (pp. 179-88, Roxanne L.
Euben), and “Quietism and Activism” (pp. 446-47, Kartin Jomaa); (4) “Mod-
ern-ism” (pp. 350-51, Charles Kurzman), “Modernity” (pp. 352-60, Armando
Sal- vatore), and “Globalization” (pp.194-95, Armando Salvatore); and (5)
“Women” (pp. 595-99, Ayesha Chaudhry) and “Veil” (pp. 587-88, Sadaf
Ahmad).

These few examples show the innovative and informative scholarly ap-
proach adopted in this volume as well as the editors’ successful attempt to

88 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 32:4



provide “a solid and innovative reference work that would trace the historical
roots of Islamic political thought and demonstrate its contemporary impor-
tance” (p. xviii) – making this almost four-year project a “pioneering venture.”
In addition, the editors have filled a gap in the literature on Islamic political
thought by providing a comprehensive reference work on its core conceptions
and institutions, as well as on its thinkers and movements.

On the whole, EIPT presents a combination of broad detailed articles on
core concepts and shorter entries on specific ideas, movements, leaders, and
related topics. The editors, to their credit, have made it not only “accessible,
informative, and comprehensive with respect to the contemporary political
and cultural situation of Islam,” but also have provided an “in-depth exami-
nation of the historical roots of that situation” (p. xviii).

In sum, the editors of EIPT have done an excellent job by bringing out
such an all-inclusive and rich volume on the various aspects, trends and per-
spectives, of Islamic political thought. Taken as a whole, this work is a very
thorough and concise guide that provides positive and reasonably balanced
views on a wide range of topics relating to Islam and politics. It could also
be recommended for use as an essential and important reference guide; a
must-read for everyone interested in Islamic political thought, Islam and pol-
itics, and/or political Islam.

Since the last half of the twentieth century, political Islam (i.e., the at-
tempts of Muslim individuals, groups, and movements to reconstruct the
socio-cultural and politico-economic basis of their societies along Islamic
lines) or Islamism (both extremist and mainstream) has increasingly played
a significant role across the entire Muslim world. Understanding its nature
and significance, its causes and consequences, as well as its multiple and
diverse manifestations, requires an appreciation of national, regional, and
international politics and socio-economic conditions (p. 4). The Oxford
Handbook of Islam and Politics (OHIP), written by prominent scholars and
specialists, is a single-volume sourcebook that offers a broad exploration
of “what we know and where we are in the study of political Islam.” It en-
ables scholars, students, policymakers, and the educated public to appreci-
ate, to use the phraseology of editors John L. Esposito and Emad El-Din
Shahin, “the interaction of Islam and politics and the multiple and diverse
roles of Islamic movements, as well as issues of authoritarianism and de-
mocratization, religious extremism and terrorism, regionally and globally”
(p. 2).

Consisting of 41 chapters organized into four parts, it discusses major “po-
litical” themes, ideologues, activists, and thinkers of “political Islam”; Islam

Parray: Islamic Political Thought and Movements 89



and politics around the world; and Islamic movements and their dynamics.
Being a voluminous work, one cannot sum up all the essays and themes cov-
ered. Therefore, I provide below an analysis of some of its concerns.

Part 1, “Major Themes” (chapters 1-7) discusses a plethora of topics:
“The Shari‘ah” (Khaled Abou El Fadl); “Salafiya, Modernism, and Revival”
(Abdullah Saeed); “Islamic Reform between Islamic Law and the Nation-
State” (Sherman A. Jackson), “Political Islam and the State” (John O. Voll),
“Islam and Democracy” (Nader Hashemi), “The Political Economy of Islam
and Politics” (Tarek Masoud), and “Political Islam and Gender” (Margot
Badran). El Fadl argues that the “Shari‘ah as a normative set of values will
reinvent the epistemological instrumentalities for its continued legitimacy
and authoritativeness and will in due time find its new reasonable equilibrium
in Muslim societies” (p. 24). Similarly, Hashemi opines that the debates on
Islam and democracy – having attracted a considerable amount of acrimony
and controversy during the last few decades, specifically after 9/11 and the
Arab Spring – circle around three central issues: Islamism, the role of western
policy, and liberalism (p. 76).

In Part 2, “Islamic Ideologues, Activists, and Intellectuals” (chapters 8-
17), the major revivalist and revolutionary figures of political Islam, both
fundamentalist and moderate, are discussed: the “Founders or Trailblazers
of [Contemporary] Political Islam,” namely, Hassan al-Banna (Ahmad Mous-
salli) and Mawlana Mawdudi (Joshua T. White and Niloufer Siddiqui,
pp.125-55); the “Revolutionary Ideologues,” namely, Sayyid Qutb and Ali
Shari‘ati (Shahrough Akhavi), and Ayatollah Khomenei (Mojtaba Mahdavi;
pp.157-99), all of whom believed that Islam presents a viable alternative to
socialism and capitalism and thus developed a strong critique of the West. And,
finally, “The ‘Intellectuals’ of Political Islam,” namely, Hassan al-Turabi (Peter
Woodward), Rashid al-Ghannoushi (Azzam Tamimi), Yusuf al-Qaradawi (Bet-
tina Gräf), Muhammad Khatami (Mahmoud Sadri and Ahmad Sadri), and Ab-
dolkarim Soroush (Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, pp. 201-59). Seeing the West
as an “ideological counterweight” rather than as an enemy, they have written
prolifically on the renewal of religious thought, Islamic jurisprudence, mod-
ernization and Islam, non-Muslims, and women. The “Islamically informed
orientations” of these “intellectuals-activists” have given birth to “an activist
Islam that continues to impact new Islamic movements.” In other words, they
have succeeded in turning faith into “a vehicle of social and political change”
(pp. 2-3).

Part 3 provides a critical overview of the interaction of “Islam and Pol-
itics around the World” (chapters 18-25) according to region: North Amer-

90 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 32:4



ica (Abdullah A. Al-Arian), Europe (Sam Cherribi), the Middle East (Moataz
A. Fattah), Central/South/Southeast Asia (Shireen Hunter, Irfan Ahmad,
and Fred R. von der Mehden) to North and Sub-Saharan Africa (Azzedine
Layachi and Leonardo A. Villalón). This part addresses the nature, extent,
and dynamics of political Islam in these respective regions and also ex-
plores their diverse use of religion as well as various reform and opposition
movements. 

Part 4, “The Dynamics of Islam in Politics,” presents an in-depth analysis
of the dynamics of political Islam through a wide range of case studies of
both countries and movements. This approach reveals the diverse manifes-
tations of political Islam or Islamism today (both mainstream and extremist).
It is subdivided into three sections: “Political Islam in Power” (chapters 26-
31) and includes Iran (William O. Beeman), Saudi Arabia (Natana J. Delong-
Bas), Turkey (Ibrahim Kalin), Sudan (Abdelwahab al-Effendi), and
Afghanistan (M. Nazif Shahrani); “Islamic Movements in the Political
Process” (chapters 32-38), which discusses the Islamic movements active
in Egypt (Tarek Masoud), Hamas (Beverley Milton-Edwards), Hizbollah
(Bassel F. Salloukh and Shoghig Mikaelian), Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia,
(Michael J. Willis), Jordan (Shadi Hamid), Indonesia (Andrée Feillard), Pak-
istan and Bangladesh (Kamran Bokhari), and Malaysia (Fred R. von der
Mehden); and finally covers discussions on the “Jihadi Political Islam” (chap-
ters 40-41): “Al-Jama‘a al-Islamiya” and “al-Jihad Group in Egypt “(Nael
Shama); “Jihadists in Iraq” (David Romano), and “Al-Qa‘ida and its Affili-
ates” (Jason Burke).

Although a number of works have been produced since 9/11 on various
themes related to political Islam, most of them have tended, in one way or
another, to limit their scope and theme to a specific country or region (i.e.,
geographically bound analysis) with either a superficial or a sensationalist
approach. Thus there was a need for a comprehensive, analytical, and in-
depth examination of Islam and politics, one that provides a fair and balanced
approach to these crucial and critical, but central, themes. OHIP covers this
great gap. With contributions from prominent scholars and specialists, it of-
fers a comprehensive analysis and wide-ranging exploration of various con-
tours of the study of political Islam, as well as the relationship between Islam
and politics, Muslim intellectuals, activists, and ideologues of political Islam,
and Islamic movements around the world.  Esposito and Shahin, who col-
lected 41 essays from leading scholars in their respective fields, have done a
marvellous job by bringing out such an all-inclusive and rich volume on po-
litical Islam.

Parray: Islamic Political Thought and Movements 91



Treating Islam and politics through a detailed and profound study, the
two-volume Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics (OEIP), under the
chief editorship of Emad El-Din Shahin, provides an in-depth coverage of the
political dimensions of both Islam and the Muslim world. Seeking to target
specialized users, scholars, students, experts, policymakers, and media spe-
cialists, OEIP offers both “accurate and balanced scholarship on Islam and
politics” (p. xvi).

OEIP is one of the four authoritative works of “The Oxford Islamic World
Encyclopedia Series,” edited by John L. Esposito. Building a great deal upon
and bringing together some already published entries from his OEIW (revised
and rewritten as necessary), this publication comprises 412 entries in total,
more than 200 of which are entirely new; the rest have been heavily revised
“to reflect the political focus of the encyclopedia and expand its scope signif-
icantly” (p. xix). Providing an in-depth coverage of the political dimensions
of Islam and Muslim world, OEIP serves, in the words of editor-in-chief
Shahin, as a “specialized supplement to [Esposito’s six-volume] Oxford En-
cyclopedia of Islamic World [2009] and treats Islam and politics through de-
tailed and profound study” (p. xix).

This is due to the following factor: Over the past 150 years, major turning
points have occurred in Muslim societies, such as the abolition of the
caliphate; western colonialism and foreign domination of Muslim countries;
the emergence of nationalist movements, the formation of nation-states, and
the domination of secular ideologies; the rise of Islamic activist movements
and their confrontations with secular-inspired regimes; the fall of some au-
tocratic regimes after the Arab Spring; and the rise of Islamist parties to
power. The Muslim world has experienced, due to several recent events (e.g.,
the Arab Spring and the fall of autocratic Arab regimes) dynamic political
changes that have reasserted the “role of Islam in politics as a main catalyst
for change, resistance, liberation, and reassertion of identity and governance”
(see p. xix). 

Seeking to target a particular readership, namely, specialized users, schol-
ars and students, experts, policymakers, and media specialists, OEIP includes
entries by highly qualified scholars written in a simple and lucid way to make
them easily accessible to the general readers as well. Some of its salient fea-
tures, which distinguish it from similar works, are that it (1) blends “theoretical
dimensions of Islam and politics with practical and institutional aspects”; (2)
does not restrict the focus “to a limited time period” but covers the classical,
medieval, and contemporary periods in terms of “modern developments,
schools of thought, institutions, movements, and personalities”; (3) follows

92 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 32:4



not only “the standard classification of modern political science references”
ranging from concepts, values, and thought to ideologies, structures, institu-
tions, and systems, but keeps in view what is particular to a reference work
on Islam and politics: the basic religious beliefs, Muslim political history,
Islam in specific geographical regions, thinkers and reformers, movements,
society, economy, and international relations; (4) devotes an entire section to
the regions and the interaction of Islam and politics therein, thereby demon-
strating its recognition of Islam’s global reach; and (5) includes separate sec-
tions on (a) Muslim socio-religious and politico-economic institutions and
structures; (b) Islamic movements, organizations, and political parties, as well
as Muslim communities, sects, and schools of thought; (c) major political the-
orists, thinkers, and reformers of all eras – with a focus on the main tenets of
their intellectual frameworks and their contributions to Muslim political
thought and practices (see p. xx).

Additional features of this work include a six-page “List of Entries” (pp.
ix-xiv); Esposito’s “Introduction to the Series” (pp. xv-xvii), and editor-in-chief
Shahin’s “Preface” (pp. xix-xxi) at the beginning of first volume. At the end of
volume two there is a “Topical Outline of Entries” (pp. 571-77) that provides
a thematic outline of its contents; a “Directory of Contributors” (pp. 579-91);
and an extensive helpful and useful “Index” (pp. 593-695).

A wide-ranging and diverse set of topics are included in this encyclopedia.
But to reflect its distinctive approach and to differentiate it from similar works,
I present an overview of concepts/entries on Shura/Mutual Consultation,
Democracy, Secularism, Minority Fiqh, and Minorities in Muslim States. My
objective here is two-fold: to show the innovative, advanced, and up-to-date
approach, and to demonstrate the difference in methodology and style between
EIPT and OEIP.

The two major concepts as far as Islam-democracy discourse is concerned
are Shura/Mutual Consultation (2:418-19, M. A. Muqtedar Khan) and Democ-
racy (1:253-59, Muhammad Muslih; updated by Micaelle Browers). Both
contributors have approached these concepts from the perspective of blending
classical scholarship with modern theories and perspective. For example, Mus-
lih/Browers opine that around the mid-nineteenth century new ways of thought
emerged in Middle East. They argue that that “Muslims could increase their
strength by secretively adopting Western institutions and practices [like
democracy and elections] that were compatible with Shari‘ah (Islamic law)”
(p. 253). In their observation, there are three perspectives on this issue: “The
Rejectionist” (i.e., Syed Qutb and Mawlana Mawdudi), “Moderate” (e.g.,
Hasan al-Turabi, Rashid al-Ghannushi, and Yusuf al-Qaradawi) and “Liberal”

Parray: Islamic Political Thought and Movements 93



(e.g., Fahmi Huwaydi, Tariq al-Bishri, and Abdolkarim Soroush). Within these
trends they find “elements of modernity and tradition,” thereby illustrating
the “intellectual attempts to restructure Islamic society and politics” and based
on “the selective appropriation of modern democratic thought made to con-
form to Islamic values and law” (pp. 258-59).

Similarly, Nader Hashemi argues that “Secularism” (2:385-89) is marked
by a perception of being an “alien ideology initially imposed from outside
by invaders” and that the “problems of secularism in Muslim societies are
rooted in the lived experiences of Muslim communities” (p. 385). Throwing
light on the historical relationship between secularism and Islam in Arab,
South Asian, and Southeast Asian, countries, as well as in Iran and Turkey,
he writes that this process has passed through several stages that have “varied
according to the particular Islamic society in question” (p. 388). He concludes
that internal debates on religion-state relations and secularism within the cur-
rent situation of the “Post Islamism” intellectual trend will likely “dictate
how Muslim societies will approach the concept of secularism in the coming
decades” (p. 389). Unfortunately, nowhere in his 3,500-word entry does Hash-
emi define secularism.

Likewise, the authors of “Minorities in Muslim States” (2:49-53, Nicola
Mellis) and “Minority Fiqh” (2:54-57, Abdessamad Belhaj) approach these is-
sues from twin perspectives: Mellis discusses both the Islamic theory and an-
alyzes the issue of “Dhimmitude” in the modern context, and Belhaj, in sum,
discusses the origins and emergence, objectives and intentions, and the appli-
cations and limitations of fiqh al-aqallīyāt. Overall, Mellis suggests that there
are two perspectives here: (1) that of the Islamic political movements and Mus-
lim scholars who are “hostile toward non-Muslims and advocate the reimpo-
sition of the dhimmah regulations” and (2) the western scholars and ideologues
who are “critical towards Islam,” calling it as a “monolith” (pp. 49-50). Pre-
senting the Ottomans as a case study, Mellis argues that the three leading non-
Muslim monotheistic communities (viz., the Jews, Greek Orthodox, and
Armenian Christians) were “established as recognized dhimmī communi-
ties”(millets) and led by their “proper religious dignitary” (p. 51). He also points
out Muslims living in the West or other non-Muslim-majority countries.

In the same way, for Belhaj the discussion of the emergence, objectives,
applications, and boundaries of minority fiqh is a “contemporary Muslim
discourse that responds through the interpretive method called ijtihād to the
challenges of private and public issues facing Muslims living in the West”
(p. 54). In its “Application,” Belhaj focuses mostly on the European Council
for Fatwa and Research’s functioning and approach of resolving issues and

94 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 32:4



argues that it reflects a “variation on modern Islamic jurisprudence, seen
within the project of fiqh renewal” (p. 56). While examining the “Boundaries
of Fiqh al-Aqalīyāt,” he concludes that this legal discourse does not fully
grasp “the complex Muslim reality of western European societies” and thus
it does not follow the “evolution of religiosity among young Muslims living
in the West.” Rather, its legal process focuses on “preserving Muslim iden-
tity, the call to Islam, relations with non-Muslims, and providing Muslims
with knowledge” (p. 56). Belhaj, who regards fiqh al-aqalīyāt as a “legal
discourse for a specific community,” writes that should consider the secular
public space in the West and find a way to work in accordance with it (pp.
56-57).

It seems that EIPT could have been a better encyclopedia if its editors
had added such topics and themes as global jihad, Islamism, Islamophobia,
multi-culturalism, interfaith dialogue, and Muslims in and of the West, given
the popular demand, debate, and discussion on such topics, all of which gained
prominence and importance after 9/11 and in the wake of Arab Spring. More-
over, there is no direct entry for “Islamic State,” which is astonishing for a
work on Islamic political thought. But keeping in view the richness and com-
prehensiveness, lucidness and coherence, wide-ranging and diverse approach
and nature of the entries, as well as the integration of the latest scholarship,
EIPT is one of the most essential publications, a must-have and must-read ref-
erence work for students and specialists of Islamic political thought. It is one
of the best one-volume works for undergraduates and graduates of Islamic
studies in general, for it brings together concepts and issues as well as past
and present personalities and movements.

Similarly, OHIP is a comprehensive, richly informative, and innovative
reference work on various dimensions of contemporary Islamic political
thought. In my opinion, as a student and researcher of modern Islamic po-
litical thought, every serious student and scholar of Islam and politics, con-
temporary Islamic political thought, political Islam, and related areas will
benefit from its enlightening overview of Islam’s political dimensions. 

Providing an enlightening overview of political dimensions of Islam
in a wide-ranging and extensive perspective, OEIP – a comprehensive ref-
erence work – demands the widest possible readership, as it is useful
equally for students and scholars, social scientists, and political analysts.
Broader in coverage, impressive in information, profound in analysis, and
lucid in style, anyone interested in learning about the multiple dimensions,
complexities, convergences, and divergences of the Islam and politics dis-
course from the classical to the contemporary eras will benefit from it.

Parray: Islamic Political Thought and Movements 95



Endnotes

1. Richard C. Martin, ed., Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, 2 vols.
(New York: Macmillan, 2004).

2. John L. Esposito, et. al., eds., Oxford Encyclopedia of Modern Islamic World, 4
vols. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995); John L. Esposito, et. al. (eds.),
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, 6 vols. (New York: Oxford Uni-
versity Press, 2009).

3. Josef W. Meri, ed., Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, 2 vols.
(New York: Routledge, 2006).

4. My review on this work was published in World Journal of Islamic History and
Civilization 3, no. 2 (2013): 85-87. DOI: 10.5829/idosi.wjihc.2013.3.2.3206. 

5. My review on this book was published in The Muslim World Book Review 34,
no. 4 (2014) 39-41.

6. See the review on this work by Muhammad Yaseen Gada in Journal of Muslim
Minority Affairs, published online on 5 May 2015, 1-3; http://dx.doi.org/10.
1080/13602004.2015.1039811. 

Tauseef Ahmad Parray
Independent Researcher, India

96 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 32:4