Islam and Democracy: Fear of the Modern World with New Introduction

I have three of Mernissi's books and they are all definitely worth the money and the time reading. Mernissi is one of the most insightful and eye-opening authors on female social issues in Islam. I used all three of her books for a college term paper and she helped me get a great grade! These books also stand the test of time I find them to be interesting every time I go back to them. Two thumbs up!

In her book, Islam and Democracy, Fatima Mernissi, a Moroccan author, draws back on her personal experiences, not only as a Moslem but also as a woman, to explain why democracy has not caught on in the Arab countries and what are the prospects for the future. Throughout the major part of her book, she demonstrates how the Islamic community is chained up by a set of fears that it would have to overcome to establish democracy.The analysis is brilliant and gives religious, philosophical and historical reasons to the incapacity of the Islamic world to put in action a real democracy. It is only in the last pages that Mernissi claims without much developing that "Our liberation will come through a rereading of our past and a reapropriation of all that has structured our civilization". She sheds however some light on two factors of optimism. The first can surprise an occidental: She thinks that the shock of the Gulf War was so great that the Muslims have emerged "free from fear". The second is carrying hope: She believes that the move of women toward self affirmation and freedom will transform the nature of the state and lead to democracy.The first fear Mernissi points out is the traditional fear of the foreign West, "Garb", the place of darkness. Middle eastern political leaders have put in place the political institutions that apparently make the West strong, but have not educated the people to use them out of fear that their authority be challenged. These institutions soon turn corrupt and are viewed as decadent. Mernissi insists on the ancient "fear of the Imam" that has marked the history of Islam. The ruler still fears the opposition forces that have constantly rebelled and tried to kill the leader. She notes - and this is quite up to date - that with the assassination of Ali, the rebel tradition has linked dissidence with terrorism. Thus "making obedience to the Imam correspond to obedience to God became the program and the law of Arab regimes" and still is. On the contrary, the freedom of thought is identified with the Kharijite rebellion and disorder. To save unity the politicians of the twenties chose the tradition of obedience and not the democratic freedom of thought. Mernissi reminds us with nostalgia that another path, that of the sovereignty of the individual and freedom of opinion, were possible in the frame of Islam. The Mu'tazila philosophy brought up the place of reason and personal opinion. It was adopted by the first Abbasids during the "century of openness". Mernissi however passes very fast over the fact that this flowering Muslim thought, known as "falasifa" was an exception and that if "the concept of reason was connected to criminal activities which destroyed the solidarity of the Umma", it is because this idea was solidly founded in Islam. "The Muslim is he who believes and obeys". Mernissi tells us that modernizing without granting the freedom of thought as in Tunisia and Algeria has created confusion and brou

Will democracy ever be possible in the volatile Arab world, and can human rights be respected under fundamentalist rules? Islamic scholar Mernissi examines fundamentalist thinking in the Middle East, considering how those on opposing sides use the same sacred texts and those who use them for violence, and providing keys to understanding Muslim and Western perceptions.

This book explains some of the sources of the anger that drove the September 11 attacks and illuminates the vast differences between the world views of the Islamic fundamentalists and US democracy. Well worth reading and discussing.

Fatima Mernissi has provides an interesting, academic and social perspective of Islam and it's fear of democracy; while providing yet a solid argument for the need for Islam to embrace democracy. She persuasively argues that the positive aspects and practice of Islam would flourish if the people of Islam were to choose their faith, rather than out of ignorace or fear. The positive aspects would provide no threat to other cultures and religions, as that is true Islam. With myself being of the west, Mernissi gave me my first insights into my own stereotyping and misunderstanding of Islam that many in the West both believe in and sometimes act on. She is provocative to all who read her, whether one is Arabic, Middle Eastern, European or American. Her scholarly and simultaneously interesting work is also a must for women who are either Islamic or those who are not.