Moderate And Radical Islamic Fundamentalism: The Quest For Modernity, Legitimacy, And The Islamic State [Paperback]

The slyest, and therefore smartest, assessment of Islamic fundamentalism currently available. --International Journal of Middle East Studies A very careful and thoughtful study of various trends in contemporary Arab Islamic fundamentalism. --Journal of Palestine Studies Full of innovative views and ideas about how to read various texts of Islamic fundamentalism. One concludes from it that 'radicals' and 'moderates' are not clear-cut categories for a classification of Islamic fundamentalists. --Middle East Studies Association Bulletin This book is recommended to all those interested in overcoming conventional and simplified views of the political discourse of Islamism. --Middle East Journal Highly recommended to academic and public libraries that aim to keep abreast of pressing foreign policy issues involving religion and culture. --Choice Basing his argument largely on Arabic documents, Ahmad Moussalli analyzes the basic concerns of fundamentalism--epistemology, knowledge, philosophy, modernity, science, and politics. Redefining the bases and scope of modern Islamic thought, he suggests that Islamic fundamentalism might prove to be a liberating theology for the modern Islamic world. Ahmad S. Moussalli is professor of political science at the American University of Beirut.