Promotional Information

This volume features more than two thousand entries on the history of Islamism and Islamic countries. It provides a balanced account of events and organizations, as well as philosophers, activists, militants, and other prominent figures, and offers a window into a movement that has irrevocably changed both Muslim and Western societies.The Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism includes entries on the roots of Islamism and jihad in Africa, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Morocco, the Balkans, and the United States, among many other countries and locations. It profiles such key individuals as Louis Farrakhan; Tariq Ramadan; Algeria's Hassan Hattab, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood; Egypt's Hassan Al-Banna; and the leader of the Afghan Jombesh-i Melli Islami movement, Abdul Rashid Dostum. The dictionary uniquely examines this antimodern incarnation of Islam and its efforts to claim (or reclaim) Muslim society, families, and professional environments. It considers such questions as whether activist Islam is "terrorist" and if it can coexist with Western societies; whether terrorism can be justified by the Quran; and what are the components of an international Islam. Widely celebrated for his scholarship and expertise, Antoine Sfeir remains sensitive to the differences between Islam and Islamism and approaches the ideology from geopolitical, sociological, and historical perspectives.

About the Author

Antoine Sfeir is the editor in chief of Les Cahiers de l'Orient, a review of studies and reflections on the Arab and Islamic world. He is the president of CERPO, the Center for Studies and Research on the Middle East, and the author of several books, including The Networks of Allah: the Islamic Channels in France and Europe and Islam.

Reviews

"[ The Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism] not only documents people, organizations, and their links throughout the world, country by country, but also answers questions surrounding September 11, 2001... The picture drawn of Islamism is precise and comprehensively based in geopolitics." -- L'Humanite "An essential resource for anyone interested in this extremely relevant issue." -- La Tribune "An antidote to confusion... Antoine Sfeir emphasizes that 15 million Arabs are not all Muslims, that all Muslims are not Islamists, and that every Islamist is not a terrorist." -- Le Figaro "This colossal project... attempts for the first time to gather together all the people, places, and religious terms connected with the emergence of Islamism, fully linked to the latest developments, with the objective of explaining current events." -- Le Temps " The Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism holds the potential of educating Western readers as to the complexities of the present state of affairs." -- Booklist "This fascinating and timely book manages to tackle a tricky subject that other resources fail to frame... Highly recommended." -- Library Journal "There is no reference work quite like this one, with material that covers Ibn Taymiyyah to Osama bin Laden... Recommended." -- CHOICE