The Organization of the Islamic Conference: Sharing an Illusion

Among Dr. Akbarzadeh's latest publications are Uzbekistan and the United States: Authoritarianism, Islamism and Washington's Security Agenda ( London: Zed Books, 2005) and Islam and the West: Reflections from Australia (Sydney: UNSWPress, 2005). Ms. Connor researches Islamic militancy in the West.¹     

Continuity in Islamic political philosophy: the role of myth

There is an essential continuity between Islamic political philosophy in the Middle Ages and today. Political philosophers in the Middle Ages explained and justified the use of mythical stories by rulers to motivate the whole of the community to behave in appropriate ways. They argued, basing themselves to a degree on their understanding of Plato, that not everyone is capable of really comprehending the reasons for certain aspects of political necessity, and so they should be led to obedience of civil law by being told stories which represent in more vivid and imaginative form the rewards and penalties which exist with respect to the law. It has often been argued that these philosophers, ranging from al‐Farabi to Ibn Rushd, were dissimulating their genuine heterodox views on the relationship between Islam and the state by arguing for the use of stories and allegories to persuade the masses that they ought to act in particular ways, while the intellectual élite can be provided with rational explanations for political action. It will be argued that contemporary and recent political writers in the Islamic world of the Middle East speak and write in a manner very similar to that of their medieval predecessors, especially when it is a matter of distinguishing between an élite and the common people, and some resemblances between political and social conditions today and in the medieval world of Islam will be drawn to try to account for this similarity and continuity.     

Islamic Capital/Anatolian Tigers: Past and Present

This article critically reviews the current literature on ‘Islamic capital’ in Turkey. Instead of a culturalist account that primarily focuses on conservative lifestyles and religious orientations of entrepreneurs as the main indicator of class formation, it tries to identify a criterion on which ‘Islamic capital’ as such can be identified as a separate capital fraction that can pursue a distinct and collective agenda. It discusses the symbiotic relationship between interest-free banks, firms, religious networks and communal linkages in order to understand this peculiar way of capital accumulation in relation to Islamic motifs. It also provides guidelines to understand what the future may hold for this specific capital fraction and assess the explanatory capacity of the term ‘Islamic capital’ under present conditions.     

Islamic fundamentalism and the intellectuals: the case of Naguib Mahfouz

Naguib Mahfouz, the Egyptian Nobel Laureate in literature, was stabbed by Muslim militants in October 1994. After the publication of his novel ‘Awlad Haratina’ radical Islamists accused him of apostasy and blasphemy. In this novel Mahfouz set out to write an allegory of human history in which the principal characters paralleled the main biblical figures, but the book angered the Islamists. Most literary figures support Mahfouz in arguing that the novel is a piece of literature or art, and not a theological treatise. It deals with problems of social justice, the abuse of power by rulers, and the exploitation of the weak by the strong. It shows that reforms by various prophets have failed to ameliorate the human condition and suggests that science seems to offer a greater promise. But the metaphysical (religious) framework within which issues of social justice, science and socialism are discussed remains the most problematic and controversial aspect of this literary work, and draws attention, therefore, to the understanding of the role of religion in human affairs.