Modernizing Islam: Religion in the
Public Sphere in the Middle East and Europe

John L. Esposito and François Burgat, eds.
Piscataway, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2003. 304 pages.

As the political climate between many western and Muslim nations contin-
ues to intensify, the rhetoric of a “clash of civilizations” has reemerged in
our news media, governments, and academic institutions. Muslims and
non-Muslims, with varying political agendas, insist that Islam is inherently
incompatible with modernity, democracy, and the West. Yet the contribu-
tors to Modernizing Islam: Religion in the Public Sphere in the Middle East
and Europe demonstrate otherwise as they examine the (re)Islamization of
Europe and the Middle East and reveal the ways in which “Islamic politi-
cal activism” (p. 3), or Islamism, promotes modernization. 

In the first of three sections, “Issues and Trends in Global Re-
Islamization,” François Burgat describes how the progressive components

106 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 21:2



of Islamization get hidden under a myriad of misconceptions. The term
Islamist, he asserts, often serves to essentialize Muslim political activists by
depicting them as a homogenous group comprised of Islamic militants. The
use of this term also “tends to strengthen the idea that Islamists are the only
ones using … religion for political purposes” (p. 28), though clearly other
individuals, institutions, and religious organizations use religion for political
ends as well. Due to the essentialized and reductionist uses of the term, the
real characteristics of Islamism as a “relative, plural, and reactive” phenom-
enon are rarely recognized (p. 18). These obscuring lenses blur the image(s)
of Islam even more in a country like France, where issues related to religion
are often relegated to the “irrational.” In such contexts, Islamist movements
are constantly invalidated, though the activists’ reasons for opposition may
well be rooted in legitimate political, economic, and social factors. 

The obscurants that Burgat details in chapter 1 often cause individuals
to view Islamists as anti-modernist and retrogressively reactionary. Yet in
chapter 2, “The Modernizing Force of Islam,” Bjorn Olav Utvik argues “that
if Islamism is a reaction it is a progressive one, a step forward into some-
thing new, not trying to reverse social developments, but rather to adapt reli-
gion so that it enables people to cope with the new realities” (p. 60). Utvik
links modernization to both urbanization and industrialization and charac-
terizes it as a phenomenon that results in increased individualization, social
mobilization, and recognition of state centrality in achieving political ends
(p. 43). He then proceeds to draw parallels between the goals of Islamist
movements and characteristics of modernization. 

In the next chapter, “Islam and Civil Society,” John Esposito further
demonstrates Islam’s compatibility with modernization and, more specifi-
cally, with democracy. He surveys Tunisia, Algeria, Turkey, Egypt, Iran,
and the Gulf states in an effort to illustrate the importance, functionality,
and popularity of their Islamic organizations. Importantly, he asserts that
while most of these Islamist movements begin by working within the fold
of the governments’ established political processes, “the thwarting of a par-
ticipatory political process by governments that cancel elections or repress
populist Islamic movements fosters radicalization and extremism” (p. 92).
Esposito suggests that increasing open competition for political power in
these countries and sustaining a reexamination of traditional Islamic rulings
regarding pluralism, tolerance, and women’s role in society will result in
greater compatibility between Islam and democracy. 

The second section, “Re-Islamization in the Public Sphere,” explains
how various cultural practices, legal debates, self-practices, and educational

Book Reviews 107



reforms have resulted in modernizing and/or Islamizing reforms. In “Islam
and the Common Mortal,” Fariba Adelkhah illustrates how the Shi`ah prac-
tice of visiting the tombs of saints has encouraged entrepreneurs to open
shops near these locations, creating cities around popular tombs and ceme-
teries in Iran. She also explains how these funeral practices have helped
make women more visible in Iranian society. Similarly, in chapter 6,
“Women’s Islamic Activism,” Connie Caroe Christiansen explains how
Islam’s emphasis on education has empowered women in Morocco. Yet in
“Islamization and Education in Egypt,” Linda Herrera explains how Islamic
education has not been as easy to attain in Egypt. She describes the reforms
taking place in Egypt that have tried to keep fundamentalism from infiltrat-
ing into the public and private Islamic school systems, undertaking what at
times appears to be a “censorship campaign” (p. 174). Finally, in “A Return
to the Shar`iah?” Baudouin Dupret describes three case studies in which
Egyptian judges have used Islamic law to arrive at legal rulings in civil
cases. 

In the last section, “Re-Islamization in Europe,” Oussama Cherribi,
Dilwar Hussain, and Jocelyn Cesari provide an overview of the ways in
which Islam is taking root in various European countries. Cherribi and
Hussain both discuss the implications that arise from the growth of reli-
gious, educational, and political Islamic institutions in Europe. Cherribi
focuses on the increasing visibility of Muslims, while Hussain highlights
those Islamic organizations that claim to be representative of their
Muslim constituents. Cesari’s chapter, “Muslim Minorities in Europe”
concludes the book by discussing the emergence of a new Muslim iden-
tity, one that is paradoxically transnational and individualistic. These
authors point out that the (re)Islamization of European and Middle
Eastern countries can create challenges for both the Islamist groups and
the host countries, where efforts to modernize and Islamize at times con-
flate, sometimes conflict, and at all times struggle to find a balance. 

Modernizing Islam makes many important contributions by casting
“Islamization” in a positive and modernist light, by reviewing the Islamized
landscape of European and Middle Eastern nations, and by outlining chal-
lenges that still face Islam as it continues to modernize. Still, many may find
that the book fails to seriously scrutinize negative aspects of modernization,
particularly since the chapters were written prior to the 9/11 tragedy.

Shaza Khan
Ph.D. Candidate, Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development

University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 

108 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 21:2