Islam and political reform in Saudi Arabia : the quest for political change and reform

Library	Item Barcode	Call Number	Material Type	Item Category 1	Status
Searching... PSZ JB	30000010237872	DS244.63 A47 2011	Open Access Book	Book	Searching... Unknown
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This book examines the link between Islamic thought/jurisprudence on the one hand and political action on the other. It shows how reformism is deeply rooted in Islamic tradition and how Sunni scholars have become activists for change in Saudi Arabia.

Author Notes

Mansoor Jassem Alshamsi, a political scientist working for the United Arab Emirates Government, received his PhD in Politics from the University of Exeter, UK, in 2004. The author of many research papers and studies on Middle Eastern affairs, US foreign policy and Islamic movements, Dr. Alshamsi emphasises the necessity of applying scientific and objective methods to the understanding of Middle Eastern politics.

Author's notes	p. viii
1 Introduction	p. 1
Background	p. 2
Defining the movement	p. 4
Constitutional, legal and political aspects	p. 7
The leadership in the context of Islamic movements	p. 9
The leadership in the context of Saudi politics	p. 11
Procedure	p. 12
Contents	p. 14
Al-mudafa'a	p. 15
Summary	p. 15
2 Context	p. 17
3 The Sunni fiqh	p. 30
The meaning of fiqh [Law and Jurisprudence]	p. 30
The sources of the fiqh	p. 31
The significance of the fiqh	p. 32
Fiqh al-siyasa al-shar'iyah [Islamic Political Jurisprudence]	p. 33
Al-tawhid and its political implementation	p. 36
Summary	p. 40
4 Further perspectives on the Sunni fiqh	p. 41
Theory of maqasid al-shari'ah [The Aims of Islamic Law]	p. 41
Al-huquq al-shar'iyah [Legitimate Rights in Islam]	p. 42
The question of al-khuruj [revolution]	p. 45
Fiqh al-muwazanat wa al-awlawiyat [Balances and Priorities]	p. 49
5 Intellectual interaction	p. 51
Ahmad Ibn Hanbal	p. 51
Ahmad Ibn Taymiyyah	p. 52
The Najdi-Saudi 'ulama	p. 55
Muhammad Quth	p. 59
Muhammad al-Alhani	p. 61
Muhammad al-Rashid	p. 61
Muhammad Surur	p. 62
Summary	p. 63
6 Political struggle: countering	p. 65
Background	p. 65
Countering in the 1980s	p. 66
The policy of countering	p. 71
External political interaction	p. 74
7 Countering policy in the 1990s	p. 78
Background	p. 78
The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait	p. 80
Historical/political initiatives	p. 86
The continuing discourse	p. 89
Continuation	p. 98
8 Petitions and challenges	p. 99
Background	p. 99
Kitab Shawal/Kitab al-'Ulama-May 1991 [Letter of Shawal or Letter of the 'Ulama]	p. 99
Mudhakkirat al-Nasihah - July 1992 [Memorandum of Advice]	p. 102
Committee for the Defence of Legitimate Rights (CDLR)	p. 110
Domestic challenges	p. 111
Continuation	p. 116
9 The Monarchy and support	p. 117
Background	p. 117
Tension, pressure, political resistance and arrest	p. 117
Support, recognition and scholarly endorsements	p. 132
Summary	p. 134
10 Appeasement	p. 137
Background	p. 137
The changed strategy: playing down the political factor	p. 139
Positive elements	p. 140
The expansion of opportunities	p. 142
The Islamic da'wah activities	p. 143
The use of the Internet	p. 148
Content of the Islamic reformist message	p. 149
11 External focus: resumption of al-madafa'a	p. 153
Background	p. 153
Countering the external - appeasing the internal	p. 153
Domestic security focus - resumption of al-mudafa'a [the dimension of countering]	p. 164
Summary	p. 169
12 Political realism	p. 172
Background	p. 172
The leadership and characteristics	p. 174
The context of the Monarchy	p. 176
The context of external factors	p. 178
The context of the Islamic cause	p. 186
The question of power, violence and jihad	p. 187
Summary	p. 195
13 Conclusion	p. 198
Synopsis	p. 198
Summary of actions	p. 198
Discourse and actions defined	p. 205
Other literature	p. 211
Determining the future	p. 218
Summary	p. 225
Appendices	p. 226
Glossary	p. 227
Notes	p. 241
Selected references	p. 282
Index	p. 289

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Table of Contents