Middle East and thus obscured the human realities of the
region. This monograph addresses the inadequacy and validity
of existing theoretical perspectives on the Middle East. The
critique presented offers Islam as a unifying constant rather
than a sporadic phenomenon correlated to the flux of social,
political and economic conditions and argues that Islam
should be conceptually incorporated into any analysis of the
region.
The book defines the essence of Islamic civilization and
highlights aspects of the colonial encounter as a background
for understanding contemporary dynamics. Against a subtle
leitmotiv of contrasting imagery, it profiles the Islamic view
of the state, the role of the faith as well as that of the community.
Useful distinctions are made between the Islamic and
Western approaches to the area which should prove illuminating
to both the area specialist and the lay reader.