Students: Discussion Questions

Chapter 2

1. Was the advent of Islam in seventh-century Arabia inherently political? Why?
2. Compare and contrast different models of imperial governance in the medieval and early modern Muslim world.
3. Explain the success and endurance of the Ottoman Empire.
4. How can we distinguish between Islamic revivalism and Islamic reformism:

1. in terms of defining the problems of the Muslim world?
2. in terms of suggested solutions to said problems?

Chapter 3

1. Why did Pan-Islamism fail as an anti-colonial strategy?
2. How and under what conditions did Islamism first emerge, and what forms did it take in different contexts?
3. What motivated Hassan al-Banna to found the Muslim Brotherhood?
4. What features of the political environment facilitated the evolution and expansion of the Muslim Brotherhood?
5. Distinguish between the “Banna-ist” and “Qutb-ist” streams within the MB.
6. What did Qutb’s rethinking of the concept of Jahiliyya entail?
7. What is the connection between Qutb’s formulation of Jahiliyya and “takfirism”?
8. Why is it important to distinguish between the MB as an organizational entity and an MB “way”?
9. What evidence can we marshal to evaluate the “one man, one vote, one time” thesis as opposed to the “inclusion–moderation” thesis?

Chapter 4

1. To what extent, if any, do the events of the Arab Uprisings lend support to, or detract from, the “post-Islamism thesis” as advanced by scholars such as Asef Bayat and Olivier Roy?
2. To what extent, if any, does the performance of Islamist parties in government provide support for, or detract from:

1. the argument that any Islamist party elected to power would seek to eradicate the democratic system through which they came into office so they cannot be voted out?
2. the idea of a process of Islamist “auto-reform”?
3. the argument that participation in political processes leads to moderation (i.e., the “inclusion–moderation” thesis)?

3. What effect has generational change exerted on Islamist groups in Egypt and Jordan? How can we explain this variation?
4. Evaluate and discuss the idea that Turkey can serve as a potential model for how other countries might go about successfully fusing Islam and democracy.

Chapter 5

1. What is an “Islamic state”?
2. What are the defining elements of the Islamic character of the Saudi/Pakistani/Iranian state?
3. How has the 1744 alliance between Muhammad Ibn Saud and Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab shaped structures of legitimacy and authority in modern-day Saudi Arabia?
4. How has Islam figured in the foreign policy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?
5. Identify, and outline the catalysts for, and sustainers of, the development of distinct Islamist undercurrents within Saudi Arabia
6. Discuss the motivations and meaning behind Zia ul-Haq’s Islamization?
7. Compare and contrast the JI with the MB on the following dimensions:
   1. organizational development
   2. social bases
   3. political environment/opportunities
8. What factors can explain how Iranian clerics were able to outmaneuver communists, secular-nationalists, and other Islamist elements to seize the reins of the 1979 revolution?
9. Discuss the origins and development of the broad spectrum of interests, policies, and political visions that are manifested in contemporary Iran.

Chapter 6

1. What is peculiarly “Islamic” about Islamic liberation movements?
2. How do Hamas and/or Hizbullah balance militant strategies with social initiatives?
3. How can we account for popular support for Hamas and Hizbullah? More specifically, how can we account for rises and declines in popular support for Hamas and Hizbullah?
4. How have Hamas, Hizbullah, and the Taliban adapted the Islamist project to a political setting defined in terms of resistance to occupation, conflict and/or national liberation?
5. What events and social contexts have shaped and animated the religious and political consciousness of the Taliban?
6. How can we account for the emergence of the Taliban as political unknowns to their stunning success and rapid takeover of most of the country?

Chapter 7

1. What is Al-Qaeda, what are its aims, and how did it come about?
2. What does jihad actually mean and how have debates about its purpose and permissibility evolved in the modern era?
3. What arguments do traditional scholars proffer against Jihadism?
4. Who joins radical movements and for what reasons?
5. How does radicalization occur, and what is it about particular forms of religious authority that attracts and holds the loyalty of followers?
6. How should we think about HT’s breed of radicalism in comparison with that of Al-Qaeda?
7. Does ISIS represent continuity with, or a break from, Al-Qaeda?
8. What directions might radical Islam take in the future? Is it possible to discern today any new patterns in its organization and methods?

Chapter 8

1. How has globalization affected the nature of Muslim politics?
2. How have the traditional ulama responded to globalization and the rise of new transnational voices—many of them, such as Usama Bin Laden—highly radical and militant?
3. What are the prospects for these new Muslim movements, and what can they tell us about the future of Muslim politics more generally?
4. What is “post-Islamism”?
5. What, if anything, can we say about the Roy/Kepel formulation of the “post-Islamist” thesis in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab Uprisings?

Chapter 9

1. What does it mean to be an Islamist in a context where Muslims represent a distinct religious minority, and where legal arrangements explicitly mandate a separation between religion and the functions of state?
2. What broader transformations might globalization bring to the landscapes of Muslim politics as macro forces—primarily economic ones—play out in the context of specific localities and societies? Are these trends that favor the growth and consolidation of Islamism in their present forms?
3. Discuss how globalization’s economic effects have played out more generally in Muslim majority countries.
4. Will Islamists be able to reinvent themselves as problem-solvers and purveyors of effective governance? Discuss.