Moderate and Radical Islamic Fundamentalism : The Quest for Modernity, Legitimacy and the Islamic State

"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."--ChoiceBasing 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.