The Rise of Islamic Capitalism: Why the New Muslim Middle Class Is the Key to Defeating Extremism

This is a provocative book...no other way to put it. First of all, this is the first hopeful book on Middle East I have read a long time. Second, this book looks to things no one else does. It writes of businessmen and financiers, new age preachers and the youth and civil society, but all of it in new ways. The message of the book is a powerful one. Nasr argues that capitalism is the only thing that can moderate the Islamic world, and he gives many examples from Dubai, Turkey and Iran to prove his point. It is strange that at a time America is criticizing capitalism Nasr is preaching it, but the argument is interesting. This is an objective and easy book to read. Nasr does not attack or defend Islam, and that is refreshing, but he does advocate capitalism, and then mixes it with Islam. It is ingenious, and worthy of consideration.

This was an easy book to read. It is full of stories and connects so many dots that are missing in the coverage of Middle East. What I found most intersting is the idea that Islamic values and how Muslims see the world can change, and how that can happen is in ways so intuitive that we have missed it. There is a lot of history and politics in this book, it is insightful and persuasive but above all it gives an Aha moment. It makes you think we are not on the right track right now. If we want to deal with extremism and fundamentalism we have to focus on economics and business. Nasr says that will chnage Islam and the Middle East. I come from Iran and saw the summer demonstrations first hand. Nasr explains what is happening in Iran very well. The discussion on Iran is definitely worth it. I think everyone shoudl read this book.

Vali Nasr is the author of another famous book, the Shia Revival. He is back with a similarly ground breaking important book. Nasr argues that the Muslim world will change in the direction of modernity only if market forces take over. That is how it happened in Medieval Europe. He argues that people adopt secular values and modern values after they enter free markets. That is an idea that is quite familiar to the West, which believes in the power of the Industrial revolution, free markets and capitalism. Nasr's argument is intriguing. In other words, rather waste so much effort in persuading Muslims to become westernized, we should encourage them to become capitalists. Nasr argues that when Muslims join free market economies they develop vested interest in commerce and everything that commerce requires. He gives the example of how in Turkey free market forces tamed that country's fundamentalist parties to produce the current moderate Islamic democratic government. Nasr argues that free trade does not turn people into secularists, but it moderate their views. The notion that fresh ideas take hold only if people have vested interest in them is a powerful one. Why would people become moderate of secular if it did not make sense in terms of their interests? Moderation he argues is strongest if it is supported by the profit motive. Nasr gives plenty of examples from Dubai, Iran, Arab world, Indonesia, Turkey and Pakistan to show two things; first Muslims are capable of functioning in the free market, and when they do that they become noticeably more moderate. This is the freshest and most novel book on the Middle East I have read in a long while. It gives a completely new perspective on understanding what is happening in the Middle East, and that is useful at a time the U.S. is still trying to figure out how to defeat extremism. To top it off it is really well-written, educational, and full of insights.

Nasr has done it again, he has written a lucid and compelling primer about where the Muslim world is today and the role he sees business and free markets playing in the future. His assessment, for the most part, is fair, balanced and nonpartisan. He sees fundamentalism as a problem and takes extremist threat seriously, but believes that the solution to the problems int he Muslim world lies not in religion or politics, but economics. The principal weakness of the book is a product of its brevity: the author paints in broad strokes, providing a sweeping assessment of the dynamic changes that have unfolded in the Muslim world over the past decades which at times result in some over-generalizations and assessments that are too optimistic. He can be accused of seeing too much promise in business growth and what it can do for the Muslim world. He will also get flack from those who see Islam as the big problem and do not believe Muslims can change. But what makes Mr. Nasr's book an important one is that provides a cogent and convincing argument about why and how market forces can and will change the Muslim world. The power of his argument comes from the fact that we do in fact believe in the power of economics, but have so far refused to see it as relevant to the future of the Muslim world. And there lies the value of this book, connecting the most important force of our time (markets and business) to the greatest concern of our time (Islamic extremism)--showing how one can fix the other. This is an important book. You will do yourself service to read it. I hope all our policy-makers read it too. It is a smart and new argument. And Mr. Nasr has shown his ability to compel new thinking once again.

As one of the foremost scholars and thinkers on Muslim society Vali Nasr has demonstrated his keen insight into that world. His 2007 book The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future sought to reframe the debate over the Iraq war by exploring how the Shia and Sunni divide was fueling what in essence was not only a civil war but a continuation of a long-running religious conflict. With "Forces of Fortune" Nasr has produced another work that should reshape opinions and increase understanding of the broader changes occurring in the Muslim world. Nasr asserts that the rise of a business-minded middle class is reshaping societies across the Muslim world and how the West engages this burgeoning middle class will provide the key to countering the threat from Islamic extremists and Iran. That alone represents a considerable paradigm shift from the West's longtime support of autocratic nations in the region who have failed to democratize and liberalize their economies and their societies. Nasr makes a compelling argument that the way to win over the Muslim world is to engage it over business, capitalism, and trade; not to fight it over religion. Equally surprising is his assessment that Islamic extremism and anti-Americanism took hold in the region not because of an inevitable clash of cultures (as other scholars have asserted), but because unlike other countries and regions a middle class failed to emerge in the 19th and 20th Centuries. This is hardly surprising given the sclerosis and decline of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th Century, the exploitative effects of colonialism and the autocratic regimes that dominated the latter half of the 20th Century. But more interesting points emerge, such as what Nasr calls the "critical middle" (Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, and Dubai) where the emergence of an increasingly economically and politically powerful middle class is already exerting its influence. The protests in Iran over the re-election of President Ahmadinejad were driven in a large part by the emergent middle class. It was lawyers in Pakistan who played a prominent role in street demonstrations that spurred General Musharraf to stand down. Presure from Turkey's growing middle class coupled with EU pressure has forced Prime Minister Erdoðan, President Gül and the AKP party to moderate their more extreme positions. This "critical middle" will hopefully motivate emulation in other Muslim countries, but the West needs to take a more active role in fostering this growth. Nasr produces some seriously thought provoking ideas and concepts here that hopefully will be debated and argued not only in the West, but in the Muslim world. "Forces of Fortune" is a rather appropriate title and hopefully the opening points in a broader discussion about the future direction for both the West and the Muslim world. "Forces of Fortune" picks up on themes Fareed Zakaria had explored in The Post-American World, but amplifies on them considerably