Prominence of Islam in Muslim politics from 1970s onwards INTRODUCTION Prominence of Islam in Muslim politics from 1970s onwards Overthrow of Shah of Iran -1979 Seizure of Grand Mosque, Mecca - 1979 Assassination of Sadat in Egypt - 1981 Islamists in power in Sudan - 1989 Emergence of AMAL and Hizballah in Lebanon – 1975-90 Taliban take Kabul - 1996 Islamist political power in Turkey _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

KHOMEINI RETURNS (1979)

1967 Arab-Israeli War (‘the Six Day War) POLITICAL ORIGINS I 1967 Arab-Israeli War (‘the Six Day War) ‘Death’ of Arab nationalism Defeat for imported ideologies Increase in influence of Saudi Arabia _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

POLITICAL ORIGINS II Sadat and the ‘Islamisation’ of Egypt Encouragement of ‘Islamic trend’ in Egypt as counter to Nasserists and leftists Islamisation of Egpytian society at every level Assassination of Sadat in 1981 by elements of Jihad Organisation and Al-Gama’a Islamiyya Armed Forces Day Military Parade, Cairo, 6 October 1981

Iranian Islamic revolution POLITICAL ORIGINS III Iranian Islamic revolution Promoted Shiite activism in Lebanon and in states bordering Iran Inspired Sunni groups _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION (1979)

Authoritarian context POLITICAL ORIGINS IV Authoritarian context Regimes tend to repress Islamist opposition Repression tends (sometimes) to radicalise Islamists Egypt elections 2005

SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS Crisis of legitimacy Lack of social justice Excessive reliance on coercion Military vulnerability Widening income gaps/relative deprivation Rapid urbanisation Population levels rapidly rising Failure of ‘imported’ models of development _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

MODERN IDEOLOGICAL BASES OF RESURGENCE I Islamic Reformism Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838-1897) and Muhammad ‘Abduh (1849-1905) Argued for regeneration of Muslim community through rediscovery of pure Muslim identity. Malaise of Muslim society lay in fossilised version of Islam propounded by traditional scholars Need to accommodate the insights of modern science Need for political reform to accompany social and religious reform

JAMAL AL-DIN AL-AFGHANI (1838-1897)

MUHAMMAD ABDUH(1849-1905)

MODERN IDEOLOGICAL BASES OF RESURGENCE II Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966) One time literary critic, member of Muslim Brotherhood, hanged by Nasserist regime in 1966 Best-known works - Ma’alim f’il Tariq (Signposts Along the Way/Milestones); Fi Zilal al-Qur’an (In the Shade of the Qur’an) For Qutb - the whole world is steeped in jahiliyya (ignorance) because of the denial of God’s sovereignty Denial of God’s sovereignty is a feature of every contemporary society, Muslim and non-Muslim Jihad necessary to bring about the true Islamic society ‘Those who have usurped the authority of God… are not going to give up their power merely through preaching…’ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

SAYYID QUTB (1906-1966)

THE LIMITATIONS OF WESTERN SCHOLARSHIP Who speaks for Islam? There is no single authoritative spokesperson for Islam There is no equivalent to Christian churches But - ‘to the casual analyst of world affairs, it would seem that the voices of radicals and militants have disproportionate influence among Muslims (P.Mandaville, Global Political Islam) However, there is a vast range of interpretations of Islam including‘pluralistic understandings’ based on liberal interpretations of sources e.g. Abdullah al-Naim, Mohamed Talbi etc.

CHRISTIANITY AND POLITICS Coptic activism in Egypt Pope Shenouda sent into internal exile by Sadat in 1980 Christian politics in Lebanon Presidency allocated to Maronite Catholic community Role of monastic orders in civil war of 1975-90 Christian politics in Syria Christians tied closely to Ba’athist regime

BASHIR GEMAYEL (1947-82) AND THE LEBANESE FORCES

JUDAISM AND POLITICS IN ISRAEL 1948 Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel pronounced the establishment of a ‘Jewish’ state 1950 Law of Return stipulates that every Jew has the right to come to Israel ‘as an immigrant’ Just under half the population describe themselves as ‘religious Jews’ Religious Jews central to project of settlement on West Bank (Occupied/Disputed Territories) Religious settler movement guided by ideology of the ‘whole land of Israel’ – between the Mediterranean and the river Jordan Increased significance of religious parties in the Knesset 39 ‘religious’ members elected to Knesset in 2013 elections (out of total of 120)

RELIGIOUS SETTLERS IN HEBRON