Osama bin Laden may have operated from a cave in one of the least-developed countries in the world, but his radical Islamic movement is thoroughly modern. In many ways, radical Islamists are a mirror image of Islamic liberals, whose peaceful struggle to establish democracy is actually more popular.
References
1.
ElAbouFadlKhaled. Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law.Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2001. A thorough critique of Islamists' misuse of sacred sources as justification for terrorism.
2.
EickelmanDale F.PiscatoriJames. Muslim Politics.Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1996. A valuable globe-trotting overview of variation in contemporary Muslim politics.
3.
ErnstCarl W.Following Muhammad: An Introduction to Islam in the Contemporary World.Boston: Shambala, 2002. A sensitive and insightful introduction to historical and contemporary developments in Islam.
4.
KurzmanCharles (ed.). Liberal Islam: A Source-Book.New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. An anthology of 32 influential writings, mostly late 20th century, by Muslims favoring democracy, multireligious coexistence, women's rights and other liberal themes.
5.
KurzmanCharles (ed.). Modernist Islam: A Source-Book, 1840–1940.New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. An anthology of 52 influential writings by Muslims in the 19th and early 20th centuries favoring constitutionalism, nationalism, science, women's rights and other modern values.
6.
LawrenceBruce. Shattering the Myth: Islam Beyond Violence.Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1998. A highly readable examination of key issues in contemporary Islamic debates.
7.
LubeckPaul. “The Islamic Revival: Antinomies of Islamic Movements Under Globalization.” In Global Social Movements, ed. CohenRobinRaiShirin M.. New Brunswick, N.J.: Athlone Press, 2000. A provocative analysis linking economic globalization with global Islamic activism.
8.
WickhamCarrie. Mobilizing Islam: Religion, Activism and Political Change in Egypt.New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. The definitive work on Islamists in Egypt, documenting the methods through which secular university students are drawn to Islamist activism.
9.
WiktorowiczQuintan. The Management of Islamic Activism: Salafis, the Muslim Brotherhood, and State Power in Jordan.Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001. A path-breaking study of radical Islamist groups in Jordan, based on extensive interviews with activists in illegal cells.
