The Politics of Islamic Resurgence

Abstract

This bibliography covers articles in jownals and daily newspapers, books, conference papers, and dissertations published in western languages (mainly English) during 1970-92. The attempted coverage of articles published in daily newspapers and conference papers, the last to be thought of and difficult to cover, is in itself admirable. However, while the limitation of "Through Western Eyes" is suitable for the three introductory chapters, it is not so for the bibliography, as most of the literature cited is written by non-Muslims. In fact, only roughly one quarter (368) of all works cited (1405) are written by Muslims. This raises a question about the objective, although the compilers declare that it seeks to "present the Western intelligentsia-scholars, politicians, journalists-with Muslim comment and a bibliographic collection of Western articles that have tackled the issue of Islamic revival" (p. ii). The book is divided into two parts: three introductory chapters and the actual bibliography. The first part was written by the compilers individually "to provide substantive analysis as essays that reflect Muslim responses to the precarious relationship with the West ... [and they] aim at crystallizing the frequently distorted image of political Islam and the lslamic revival" (p. ii). Chapter one, "The Western Pen: A Sword in Disguise?," deals with western media bias and the consequent distortion of Islam through a) reproducing photos that appear as covers of such famous magazines as The Economist and Time and b) using slanted titles (i.e., "The Sword of Islam" and "Muhammad's Militants: Spreading Islam by the SwordAgain") and special semantics (i.e., "fear," "impose," and "purge" as well as "fundamentalist network" and "wealthy fundamentalist businessmen") to propagate paranoia about Islam. The chapter highlights, through quotations from various sources, fabricated stories, subjective opinions, and general unfamiliarity with Islam and tends to condemn western authors and journalists for their role in formulating people's opinions. It concludes that "Islamic 'fundamentalism' is an all-encompassing term. It is ...