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This is a single-volume history of Islam. The opening chapters briefly discuss the historical background of the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century, through the rise of the Islam in 18th through 20th centuries. The final two chapters cover the significant events of the 1980s and 1990s

The sounds and activities of an increasingly globalized human world often drown out the noises of the debates in scholarly journals and intellectual magazines about the coming wars among civilizations. This globalized theater of life is paradoxical, conflictridden and often destructive of many human values, but it is fundamentally an increasingly one-world context. Its struggles and conflicts cannot be best understood by viewing them as if they were wars between essentially different and separated entities.

The major Sufi brotherhoods have a significance in the development of political Islam in the modern era that is often underestimated. The traditional brotherhoods provided the basis for much of the militant opposition to European imperial expansion in the nineteenth century and, through these efforts, created symbols for Islamic authenticity that have remained important throughout the twentieth century. These brotherhoods also were major conservative forces, preserving a sense of an Islamic identity in times of rule by non-Muslims or secularizing and westernizing Muslim elites after independence. The long-term impact of this conservative force is to provide a foundation for popular support for political Islam at the end of the twentieth century. This popular support is a major factor in transforming political Islam from a radical force on the periphery of the political arena into the basic foundation of mainstream politics in many Islamic societies.

The article examines the present political crisis against the backdrop of the political development in Sudan since 1953. It is noted that Sudan has experienced two broadly different styles of government since independence. Civilian and military regimes have alternated but neither appears to have been able to resolve the fundamental problems of political stability and economic development. The role of Islam as the major area of disagreement in principle between the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement and the military regime is discussed. (DÜI-Sen)

Introduction xix. - PART ONE: CONTEXT, FRAMEWORK, AND LABELS 1. - The crisis of the Muslim intellectual in the modern era. - Muslim evaluations of the West in the modern era. - Toward truth in labeling: A brief discussion of terms. - PART TWO: THE EMERGENCE OF POLITICAL ISLAM 35. - The Tanzimat mode of renewal and reform. - The modernist mode of renewal and reform. - Crossroad of history. - The secular-nationalist mode of renewal and reform. - The fundamentalist-style mode of renewal and reform. - The intellectual foundation of Political Islam. - PART THREE: POWER AND AUTHORITY IN AN ISLAMIC STATE 87. - Political Islam. - Dīn as dawla. - Tawhid and ḥākimiyya. - 'Popular vicegerency'. - Political power and authority in the Muslim community. - Ḥisba and shūra. - Bay'a and 'shūracracy'. - PART FOUR: ARABIA AND THE PROPHET AT MEDINA 135. - Arab tribal society and communal authority. - The Prophet at Medina. - Conception of the caliphate. - PART FIVE: CONCLUSION 157. - Political Islam and the invention of tradition. - Afterword 169

Religious resurgence and democratization have been two of the most significant developments of the last quarter of the twentieth century. Frequently they work together; other times they are at odds. In the muslim world, this relationship is of special importance because of the strength of the Islamic resurgence, and the intensity of muslim demands for greater popular participation in political processes. Esposito and Voll use six case studies to look at the history of this relationship and the role played by new Islamic movements. At one end of the spectrum, Iran and Sudan represent two cases