The Future of Islam by John L.

Esposito
Review by: Murad Wilfried Hofmann
Islamic Studies, Vol. 49, No. 2 (Summer:2010), pp. 286-289
Published by: Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University, Islamabad
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41480708 .
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2g6 BOOK
REVIEWS

persuasive. Contrary to its claims, the fact is that over the course of a
millennium Islamic partnerships did evolve, into an infinite diversity of
complex formsin response, as can be expected, to commercial demand rather
than blind imitation.18As the book recognizes, this met the needs of Middle
Eastern merchants quite adequately for centuries and the demand for
corporations did not arise until the imperial powers gained decisive influence,
militarily,commercially, and politically, over the Middle East. It is true that
the odium attached to lending at interestin the Muslim moral imagination
inhibited the development of institutionsproviding interest-basedfinance,but
this did not seem to have held back the expansion of commerce until the loss
of militaryand political power.
The commitment of Islamicate societies to privileging charity over
commerce, and the concern for equity, with growth,reflectedcollective social
preferencesthat are seen even today not as weaknesses but as strengthsby
most social thinkersacross the world. Equally, the tolerance shown to non-
Muslim minoritiesby the Ottomans as guided by Islamic law, which allowed
them to enjoy living standardsequal to if not betterthan the Muslim majority,
cannot but be admired by anyone concerned with the fate of minoritiesin the
world today. Institutionalchange proceeds by a continuous choice in the face
of opportunities and constraints. The book's counsel of blindly importing
institutionsfromthe West is neitherpractical nor sensible.

Arshad Zaman

ООО

John L. Esposito. The Future of Islam. New York: Oxford University

Press, 2010. Pp. xiv+234, Hardcover. ISBN 978-0-19-5165210-0.
Price: $ 24.95.

Professor Esposito of Georgetown University has more than 35 books on

Islam to his credit,including the four-volumeOxfordEncyclopaediaofModern

18 to thebook'sclaimthatIslamiclaw led to short-term

commitments: "In general,
Contrary
evidencesuggests thatlong-termcommitment was morecommonamong
to a partnership
Muslimand Jewishmerchants workingin the southern Mediterraneanthanit was among
European Christians.Formal in
partnerships theArab worldtended to be oflongerduration
thantheChristian whichusuallyremained
contracts, validforonlyone commercial venture."
OliviaRemieConstable, inMuslim
TradeandTraders Spain:TheCommercial Realignmentofthe
Peninsula
Iberian , 900-1500 Cambridge
(Cambridge: UniversityPress,1994),70.

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BOOK
REVIEWS 287

Islamic Worldwhich he edited. But Esposito considers this book, his latest,the
"culmination" of his work on Islam and Muslim politics (p. 4). Coming from
someone who has carefullyobserved, during the last decades, the rise of Islam
to centre stage of world politics- a "sea change"- this self-assessmentdoes
carryweight.
Islam is presently both a religion and an ideology. Therefore, for the
author, a fairstudy of Islam- of its text as well as context- is both a domestic
imperativeand foreignpolicy priority.Esposito does justice to both. His book
indeed meritsto serve as a historytextbook rooted in regional geo-politics.
Karin Armstrong in her Foreword to the work approvingly states that
the West in its own interestmust overcome its widespread ignorance of, and
"entrenched reluctance" vis-à-visIslam, a religion more dispersed around the
globe than ever before.
The book tries to achieve this in a total of four chapters.
Chapter 1, addressingIslam in the West/Islam and the West, is to put at
ease those who see Europe turninginto "Eurabia," last but not the least by a
seven-pageconcise descriptionof 'aqïdah, 'ibãdah and true sbarVab.
The author is aware that the media, focusing on what will spike sales, are
nourishing an anti-Muslim "fear industry" (Nihad Awad) in the US and
Europe, seeing Islam as an "enemy within" and disregardingall good news
about it. While this delightsthe Christian Right like CUFI (Christians United
for Israel) and Zionist organizations, it also fuels Muslim hate preachers like
Abu Hamza al-Masri (pp. 28 f.).
Against this background and the appalling ignorance about Islam, shared
both by the specialist elite and the common people of Europe and USA,
Muslims wonder whether they really belong to their new homeland; whether
they are accepted as American Muslims or only as Muslims in America.
Chapter 2 on "God in Politics," sees relations between the US and the
Muslim world at an all-timelow, with Muslims perceivingthe West as engaged
in a war against Islam with America being the problem, not the solution, in a
globalized jihãd. President Bush Jr. (2000-2008), virtually mirroring Bin
Laden's vision, saw himselfin a cosmic war between good and evil. This latter,
in his view, much like his evangelist predecessor President Ronald Reagan
(1981-1988), is equated with Islam.
Sayyid Qutb (d. 1386/1966), 'Abdullah al-'Azzãm (d. 1410/1989), and
Osama bin Laden with their ultraconservative, puritanical, absolutist,
exclusivist and therefore polarizing backgrounds are given prominence,
including their unforgivabletheological innovations: To excommunicate other
Muslims by declaring them kãfirand to turn militaryjihãd into an individual,
not a communal, obligation: Qutb did not turn against private property but

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 REVIEWS
BOOK
2gg

materialism,racism, and sexism. Even so, Esposito sees in him for Islam what
Karl H. Marx (d. 1883) was to Communism.
The author neverthelessinsists that the primary cause of what is called
"Muslim Terrorism" is nationalism, as in Afghanistan,Chechnya, Kashmir,
"
and Palestine. (When Kemalists or the PLO speak of shablds," it does not
imply religiosityeither.)
The author deplores that Muslim religious authorities,engagingin a "war
of fatwãs," are too divided to show a united front against the extremist
miltants.(But Christianity,too, lacks a central authority,p. 74). Esposito then
turns around to blame neo-colonialist US policy for much of the damage,
complaining that the US:

1. Muslimregimes;
supportsauthoritarian
2. appliesdoublestandardsin humanrightsissues;
3. revivedthedefunctconceptof "preemptive war;"
4. floutedtheGenevaAccordsand international tribunals;and
5. intervenedin favourof a "roguestate,"i.e. Israel(see,pp. 85 f.).

Chapter 3 focuses on contemporary Muslim reformers, including

"televangelists."Ever since Muhamad Iqbal (d. 1357/1938) called for a Muslim
Martin Luther (d. 1546), the question no longer is whetherIslam needs reforms
but which reforms, without having to choose between "Mecca and
mechanization." Most Muslims now accept that the Qur'an, being the literal
word of God, does not impose its literalist interpretation (p. 95). While
allowing medieval tradition to be desacralized, they do not wish it to be
scuttled: In Islam, as among American neo-conservatives,orthodoy is to be
reasserted against vigilantism.Esposito personalizes this issue by opposing
prominent figures like Mustafa Ceric (Sarajevo), Nurcholish Madjid, Tariq
Ramadan, Abdulaziz Ã1 al-Shaykh, Muhammad Tantawi and Timothy
Winter- speaking of "suicide" operations- against Yusuf al-Qaradawi and
Akram Sabri- speaking of "martyr" operations. Muslim feminists like
Dr. Heba Raouf and Amina Wadud are set off against a fully veiled Farhat
Hashmi. And media stars like Amr Khalid and Abdullah Gymnastiar are
found rubbing againstthe Muslim establishment.
In this process, Winter finds roots of Western terrorismin the British
"saturation bombing" of Hamburg and Dresden during World War П. Sabri,
in turn, is quoted saying that "Israel has nuclear bombs, we have human
bombs" (p. 103).
Chapter 4, largely repetitive,traces the Way Forward- the strugglefor
the soul of Islam- in the face of Islamophobia, nourished by Christian and
Jewish Zionists, Guantanamo Bay, and the Patriot Act but also by Muslim

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BOOK
REVIEWS 289

hate preaching. The lawlessness of the Bush administrationhas been described

as leading to an erosion of civil liberties,which illustratesBenjamin Franklin's
(d. 1790) truismthat "he who sacrificesfreedomfor securityis neitherfreenor
secure." Islam and democracy being both under siege in much of the Muslim
world, Muslims' attitudetowards the United States is a mixture of admiration
and resentment because of American arrogance, unilateralism, double
standards,and hegemony, the US pursuing a secular fundamentalism(p. 143).
The book can show, al-hamdu li 'llãh, that religious pluralism is
increasingly accepted, supposedly even Sunnï and Shï'ï Muslims becoming
"Sushi." Ingrid Mattson (ISNA), Sarah Joseph {Emet), and Fathi Osman are
shown as fighting"kafirization" (p. 179) with interfaithdialogue. Here due
note is taken of the astonishingAmman Messages (2004/5) and the splendid A
Common Word initiative (2007), both emanating from the Jordanian Royal
Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought under H.R.H. Prince Ghazi b.
Muhammad.
On the whole, in terms of Gallup statisticsthe book draws heavily on
Esposito and Dalia Mogahed's book Who Speaksfor Islam ? (2007).

Murad WilfriedHofmann

Ф ® $

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