Islamic Fundamentalism

Davidson, Lawrence. Islamic Fundamentalism Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998.186 pp.

Lawrence Davidson has written a handbook on "Islamic fundamentalism" for the series entitled the "Greenwood Press Guides to Historic Events of the Twentieth Century." The format for this volume follows the one stipulated for the series: a chronology of the historical event or issue; then a narrative summary; then a set of topical essays, each of which analyzes an issue or problem introduced in the narrative summary; and then a concluding, interpretive chapter. Each volume also includes short biographies of key figures associated with the event or topic; a selection of documents or primary sources; a glossary; and an annotated bibliography.

For his book, Davidson sandwiches four chapters between a fourteenpage summary of Islam and his conclusion. They include the following: "The Society of the Muslim Brothers;" "Revolutionary Islamic Fundamentalism in Power: The Case of Iran;" "Nonrevolutionary Islamic Fundamentalism in Power: The Case of Saudi Arabia;" and "Western Perceptions of Islamic Fundamentalism." He provides seventeen thumbnail biographies of Muslim leaders from Iran to North Africa (and the United States, since that is where western audiences came to know Omar Abd al-Rahman). His chronology extends into late 1997, and the section of primary documents includes a wide variety of texts, ranging from selections from the Qur'an and hadith to extracts from the writings of Hassan al-Banna, Abu'l-A'la Mawdudi, the Ayatollah Khomeini, and radio broadcasts commenting on the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis and the 1990-91 Gulf War. The glossary has two lists, one for fundamentalist organizations (AMAL is a surprising omission), and one for "terms and names" (where, unfortunately, a typo has resulted in "iman," the Arabic word for "faith," being printed but where "imam" is defined). The section on resources includes a bibliography of just over three dozen books and a list of films.

The book is intended to be a introduction to the topic, and should prove helpful to many readers, precisely because of its handy, all-in-one format. The glossary, the biographies, and the discussion of differences between the Saudi regime and the Iranian government in particular are useful sections. The book, however, does suffer from two flaws which it should have avoided in light of its intention to clarify and elucidate. One is the inconsistent method of transliterating names from the Arabic and Persian languages. European scholars use a different method of transliterating such names from that of American scholars, and the news media use a variety of ways, but within a single work an author should be consistent. In this book, however, several examples could be provided of inconsistencies that would confuse a lay reader. Two examples will suffice. The words "ibn" and "abd" are alternatively capitalized or not; alternatively used in their genitive construction or not (abd al--Wahhab as opposed to al-Wahhab); and alternatively used with some form of diacritical mark or not (Hasan 'Abdullah al-Turabi). The book usually prints the definite article "al-" (as in Musa alSadr), but for some reason with the name of Muhammad Baqer a]-Sadr the definite article is spelled as it is pronounced before a sibilant (Muhammad Baqer asSadr, a name misspelled Muhammad Baqer as-Sadra in the chronology of events). It seems that the author is more influenced by the sources he uses than by rules of transliteration.

The second, and more profound, problem for the book is the refusal to take seriously the issue of what constitutes "Islamic fundamentalism." Readers who pick up the book know that the term is used in a variety of ways, and probably even know that among some scholars, Muslim and non-Muslim, the term is rejected or seriously circumscribed. The very reason, in fact, that many prospective readers would look at the book would be to seek clarification on this issue. Davidson, however, relegates the controversy to an endnote rather than to the text, sensing that it needs to be addressed but not wanting it to be a central issue. In the note he asserts, first, that most scholars, Muslim and non-Muslim, use the term for want of a better word "to describe the nature of present-day Islamic revivalism," and "to describe the Islamic revivalist movements" (p. 16) but also that the term "is sufficiently accurate to describe Muslims who see themselves as adhering to the ultimate fundamentals or foundations of their religion, and also to a literalist interpretation of the Muslim holy book, the Quran" (p. 17).

By ignoring the fact that revivalism or activism is not necessarily identical with a literal approach to the Qur'an, and that a revivalist movement might actually have as a target for destruction a regime that does claim to be fundamentalist in the sense of taking the Qur'an literally, Davidson fails to clear up some very important issues. As a result, his book contains a section of biographies of individuals that includes Ali Shariati and Muhammad Iqbal, who would scorn a literalist interpretation of the Qur'an and emphatically should not be described as fundamentalist. The chapter on "nonrevolutionary Islamic fundamentalism," or Saudi Arabia, glosses over the fact that Saudi Arabia is not an example of Islamic revivalism, but rather is a target of many groups which are revivalist. It would be a wonderful example to use in a discussion of a fundamentalist movement that is regarded as misguided and even evil by many revivalist groups. Moreover, while it is useful to examine the movement that resulted in the Islamic Republic of Iran as an example of Islamic revivalism, it is not useful to call that movement fundamentalist, for that implies that Shi'ites interpret the Qur'an literally. Shi'ites, of course, rely upon their spiritual guides, or maraji' al-taqlid, to interpret the Qur'an for them. Davidson has the kernel of a good book here; one can hope that in a second edition it will be revised and made into a "must-buy" book.