Political quietism in Islam: Sunni and Shi'i practice and thought

Extract

Islam has come to be closely linked with political activism—and, worse, terrorism—over the past 30 years or so, an unfair link if ever there was one. Thus, this edited volume on quietism in Islam, a tradition that has largely been overlooked in all but the most scholarly of circles, provides a welcome balance. Published by the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, the book carries an impressive imprimatur—the full weight of an institution established in the name of King Faisal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, surely one of the most respected world leaders of the twentieth century, a man who quietly changed the course of Arab and Islamic affairs by placing an embargo on his country's oil exports in the 1970s. It was a decision that led to a transfer of wealth from the West to the Middle East, that was—and remains—unprecedented in world history. Located in central Riyadh, the institution that bears his name is at the very heart of Saudi Arabia's commercial and political life. It adjoins a shopping centre that also bears the king's name—Faisalia—a concept that is surely anathema to many. But such anathema is very much at the heart of this book: how do religious people put up with matters that go against their view of Islam?