564 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 12:4 Book Review Western Domination and Political Islam: Challenge and Response By Khalid Bin Sayeed. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995, 197 pp. The first two decades of the twentieth century saw the direct or indi­ rect colonization of the Muslim world by various western countrie , thus representing one of the bleakest periods of Muslim history. In the inter­ war years some rays of hope emerged in the Muslim world with the launching of various independence movements. This period also saw the rise to prominence of two Islamic movements that were to have a major influence on the Islamic response to the western challenge for the rest of the century: the Ikhwan al Muslimum in Egypt and the Jama'at-i Islam1 in the Inda-Pakistani subcontinent. The socioeconomic, geopolitical, and intellectual-cultural challenge of the West to the Muslim world produced varying responses on the part of the Muslim world. While movements such as the Wafd Party or the Muslim League represented the "national­ ist" response to this challenge, the Ikhwan and the Jama'at were manifes­ tations of the "Islamic" response. After more than fifty years of struggle, it is becoming painfully clear that the response articulated by these movements to the western challenge is proving co be ineffective. Despite some impressive historical achieve­ ments, they find themselves marginalized in their own countries, having almost no influence whatsoever on policy formulation and the intellectual and cultural character of society, for these areas continue to be dominated by westernized elites. As a result, Muslim intellectuals have started to ask "Why?" Why have these movements, which at one time held so much promise and even produced some impressive results, failed to respond adequately to the western challenge, and what steps need to be taken to remedy the shortcomings? Questions of this nature are being asked Book Reviews 565 increasingly in Muslim circles, and some possible answers have been offered. Sayeed’s Western Domination and Political Islam: Challenge and Response explores precisesly these questions and issues. The author argues that the major shortcomings of the Ikhwan and the Jama‘at are their commitment to ideological purity, the attendant disregard for polit- ical realism, and the failure to adhere to the logic of their own thinking (p. 37). Due to these shortcomings, Islamists have not been able to diag- nose properly the true nature of the western challenge and, as a result, cannot formulate an effective response. Sayeed goes on to argue that the first step in formulating an effective response has to be a clear under- standing of the nature of this challenge. It is only after this proper under- standing has been developed that specific Islamic principles can be gleaned from “the world of Islamic ideas” and implemented and contex- tualized in order to give birth to an Islamic order (pp. 48-49). After putting forth this critique, Sayeed analyzes the Islamist response in three countries: Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. These three chpaters cover familiar territory in that they document events and issues that have received much attention previously. The final two chapters of the book are the most interesting, in that one detects attempt to articulate an alternative plan of action that will allow Muslims to respond adequately to the West. Sayeed’s alternative is based on certain key principles borrowed from the thought of such prominent Muslim thinkers as Muhammad Iqbal, Ali Shari‘ati, Abdul-Karim Surush, and Fazlur Rahman. Accord- ing to Sayeed, first the Muslims have to realize that each Muslim state has to concentrate on its own socioeconomic development before one can even begin to talk about Muslim unity. In their enthusiasm, Islamists often glorify the concept of the ummah, forgetting that one cannot talk of a strong and united ummah if its individual constitutents are weak. This is an idea that Sayeed borrows from Muhammad Iqbal. He then argues that the methodology used by the Muslims to implement Islamic principles has to be examined critically and modified. Sayeed notes that Muslims must separate “normative Islam” from “historical Islam.” The implication here is that many of the cultural norms that exist in contem- porary Muslim societies have nothing to do with Islam and therefore are not to be considered as binding and obligatory. Next, Muslims must engage in a process of identifying the specific problems that plague their societies and then turn to the Qur’an for guidance, identify the general Islamic principles enunciated therein, and then return to the problemati- cal situation to contextualize the general Qur’anic principle (pp. 138-39). Here Sayeed echoes the thought of Fazlur Rahman. In his opinion, Mus- lims can learn valuable lessons by studying the methods of mass mobi- lization used by Ghandi and Mao for the purpose of building a healthy modem society. Sayeed credits Khomeini for tapping the masses’ latent energy and using it to bring about political change, but notes that Kho- 566 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 12:4 meini failed to use the same resource to bring about a socioeconomic rev­ olution. Even though one may disagree with some of the diagnoses and pre­ scriptions regarding the issue at hand, the author has done an admirable job in presenting his arguemnt. The book is a valuable contribution to the debate regarding the steps Muslims must take in order to respond ade­ quately to the western challenge in the coming decades. Basit B. Koshul Lahore,· Pakistan