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Secularizing Islamists?

Jama'at-e-Islami and Jama'at-ud-Da'wa in Urban Pakistan

Humeira Iqtidar author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:The University of Chicago Press

Published:25th Mar '11

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Secularizing Islamists? cover

"Secularizing Islamists?" provides an in-depth analysis of two Islamist political parties in Pakistan, the highly influential Jama'at-e-Islami and the more militant Jama'at-ud-Da'wa, widely blamed for the November 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai, India. Basing her findings on thirteen months of ethnographic work with the two parties in Lahore, Humeira Iqtidar proposes that these Islamists are facilitating secularization within Muslim societies, even as they vehemently oppose secularism. This book offers a fine-grained account of the workings of both parties that challenges received ideas about the relationship between the ideology of secularism and the processes of secularization. Iqtidar particularly illuminates the impact of women on Pakistani Islamism, while arguing that these Islamist groups are inadvertently aiding secularization by forcing a critical engagement with the place of religion in public and private life. She highlights the role that competition among Islamists and the focus on the state as the center of their activity plays in supporting secularization. The result is a significant contribution to our understanding of emerging trends in Muslim politics.

"The real strength of the book is the serious depth of its empirical research, both historical and anthropological - there is no other work that brings such a range of materials to a study of Islamism in contemporary Pakistan. This important book will interest policy professionals worldwide who are concerned with Islamic radicalism." (Aamir Mufti, University of California, Los Angeles)"

ISBN: 9780226384689

Dimensions: 24mm x 16mm x 2mm

Weight: 510g

232 pages