Islam and International Relations

Faiz Sheikh judiciously examines the widely held assumption that a system of states and Islam rub uncomfortably against each other. In so doing, he rescues political Islam from radicalised interpretations and international relations from preconceived secularism. Avoiding a facile reconciliation of value pluralism and religious certainty, moreover, he sensibly holds out hope of counter-balancing restraint. Therein lies wisdom, and a path forward from supposed civilisational antipathy. -- James Piscatori, Professor of International Relations, Durham University
The past twenty years has witnessed a paradigmatic attempt to transcend Western-centric conceptualization of international relations and to reach a global understanding of IR… In this welcome contribution by Faiz Sheikh, we are invited to re-consider the secularist, liberal-individualist and territorialist biases in Western IR as well as the relative insularity of Western values… I believe this book will be of great interest to all of us, scholars and students of IR, political Islam and sociology of Islam -- Zana Citak, Associate Professor, Middle East Technical University
Faiz Sheikh explores the enduring contention between Islamic political thought and International Relations. This contention has deep roots in ontological, epistemological, and normative differences, and most IR scholars unfortunately rely on easy models of convergence or divergence, or commit to reductionism or generalizations. Faiz Sheikh avoids these pitfalls. What emerges is a careful groundwork to help us to think through the building blocks of Islamic international political thought and have a sense for what that intellectual project may contribute to International Relations. -- Turan Kayaoglu, Professor of International Relations, University of Washington Tacoma