Princeton Readings in Islamist Thought: Texts and Contexts from al-Banna to Bin Laden (Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics)

"This book is an excellent primer on the key ideas and prominent thinkers that have shaped Islamism over the past century. Euben and Zaman provide the reader with both text and context by pairing selections from key Islamist works with their own incisive analysis. The result is a most useful and timely intellectual history of Islamism."--Vali Nasr, author of Forces of Fortune: The Rise of a New Muslim Middle Class and What it Means for Our World

"One could find no better guide to this difficult, dangerous, and deceptive terrain."--Anne Norton, University of Pennsylvania

"This splendid volume literally opens the door to Islamic political thought for Western scholars and teachers of politics. Brilliantly introduced and contextually framed by the editors, the selections represent remarkable geographic and historical range. We are all in the debt of Euben and Zaman for this immense labor and for the subtlety of their own thinking about politics, interpretation, violence, theory, gender, translation, and more."--Wendy Brown, University of California, Berkeley

"This volume is a real contribution. The selection of texts is first-rate, and the biographical introductions to the individual texts are extremely impressive."--Noah Feldman, author of The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State

"A superb volume. No other anthology on Islamism provides this depth or breadth. The biographical notes that precede each selection are exceptionally beneficial. These notes do more than just introduce the authors; they explore the background, networks, and issues that link each writer with broad patterns of Islamic political thought."--Bruce Lawrence, editor of Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden

Illuminating the content and political appeal of Islamist thought, this anthology brings into sharp relief the commonalities in Islamist arguments about gender, democracy, and violence, but it also reveals significant political and theological disagreements among thinkers too often grouped together and dismissed as extremists or terrorists. No other anthology better illustrates the diversity of Islamist thought, the complexity of its intellectual and political contexts, or the variety of ways in which it relates to other intellectual and religious trends in the contemporary Muslim world.

This anthology of key primary texts provides an unmatched introduction to Islamist political thought from the early twentieth century to the present, and serves as an invaluable guide through the storm of polemic, fear, and confusion that swirls around Islamism today. Roxanne Euben and Muhammad Qasim Zaman gather a broad selection of texts from influential Islamist thinkers and place these figures and their writings in their multifaceted political and historical contexts. The selections presented here in English translation include writings of Ayatollah Khomeini, Usama bin Laden, Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasan al-Banna, and Moroccan Islamist leader Nadia Yassine, as well as the Hamas charter, an interview with a Taliban commander, and the final testament of 9/11 hijacker Muhammad Ata.

Illuminating the content and political appeal of Islamist thought, this anthology brings into sharp relief the commonalities in Islamist arguments about gender, democracy, and violence, but it also reveals significant political and theological disagreements among thinkers too often grouped together and dismissed as extremists or terrorists. No other anthology better illustrates the diversity of Islamist thought, the complexity of its intellectual and political contexts, or the variety of ways in which it relates to other intellectual and religious trends in the contemporary Muslim world.

Acknowledgments xi

Permissions xiii

A Note on Transliteration, Spelling, and Other Conventions xvii

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

Part I: Islamism: An Emergent Worldview

Chapter 2: Hasan al-Banna 49

Toward the Light 56

Chapter 3: Sayyid Abu'l-A'la Mawdudi 79

The Islamic Law 86

Chapter 4: Sayyid Abu'l-Hasan'Ali Nadwi 107

Muslim Decadence and Revival 112

Chapter 5: Sayyid Qutb 129

Signposts along the Road 136

In the Shade of the Qur'an 145

Part II: Remaking the Islamic State

Chapter 6: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini 155

Islamic Government 163

Chapter 7: Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr 181

The General Framework of the Islamic Economy 186

Chapter 8: Hasan al-Turabi 207

The Islamic State 213

Chapter 9: Yusuf al-Qaradawi 224

Islam and Democracy 230

Part III: Islamism and Gender

Chapter 10: Murtaza Mutahhari 249

The Human Status of Woman in the Qur'an 254

Chapter 11: Zaynab al-Ghazali 275

An Islamist Activist 283

From Days of My Life, chapter 2 288

Chapter 12: Nadia Yassine 302

Modernity, Muslim Women, and Politics in the Mediterranean 311

Part IV: Violence, Action, and Jihad

Chapter 13: Muhammad'Abd al-Salam Faraj 321

The Neglected Duty 327

Chapter 14: ?Umar'Abd al-Rahman 344

The Present Rulers and Islam: Are They Muslims or Not? 350

Chapter 15: Hamas 356

Charter of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) of Palestine 364

Chapter 16: Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah 387

Islamic Unity and Political Change 394

September 11th, Terrorism, Islam, and the Intifada 403

Chapter 17: The Taliban 409

A New Layeha for the Mujahidin 415

An Interview with a Taliban Commander 418

Part V: Globalizing Jihad

Chapter 18: Usama bin Laden 425

Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places 436

Chapter 19: Muhammad'Ata al-Sayyid 460

Final Instructions 466

Glossary 473

Bibliography 479

Index 501