1. 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
Assassination of Sadat in Egypt
Islamists in power in Sudan
Emergence of AMAL and Hizballah in Lebanon –
Taliban take Kabul
Islamist political power in Turkey
_________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

2. KHOMEINI RETURNS (1979)

3. 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
_________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

4. 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

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

6. THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION (1979)

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

8. 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
_________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

9. MODERN IDEOLOGICAL BASES OF RESURGENCE I
Islamic Reformism
Jamal al-Din al-Afghani ( ) and Muhammad ‘Abduh ( )
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

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

11. MUHAMMAD ABDUH( )

12. MODERN IDEOLOGICAL BASES OF RESURGENCE II
Sayyid Qutb ( )
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…’
_________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

13. SAYYID QUTB ( )

14. 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.

15. 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
Christian politics in Syria
Christians tied closely to Ba’athist regime

16. BASHIR GEMAYEL (1947-82) AND THE LEBANESE FORCES

17. 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)

18. RELIGIOUS SETTLERS IN HEBRON