Beyond Islam: A New Understanding of the Middle East

by Sami Zubaida

In this magisterial work, Sami Zubaida draws on a distinguished career’s worth of experience trying to understand the region to address the fundamental question in Middle East what is the Middle East? He argues, controversially, that to see it through the prism of Islam, as it is conventionally viewed, is to completely misunderstand it. Many of what we think of as the ""Islamic"" characteristics of the region are products of culture and society, not religion. To think of Islam itself as an essential, anti-modern force in the region rather than something shaped by specific historical-economic processes is, Zubaida argues, a mistake. Instead, he offers us an alternative view of the region, its historic cosmopolitanism, its religious and cultural diversity, its rapid adoption of new media cultures,  which reveals a multi-faceted and complex region teeming with multiple identities. Wide-ranging, erudite, and powerfully argued, Zubaida’s work will be essential reading for future generations of students of this fascinating region.

Genres: Religion, Middle East, Islam, Nonfiction, Politics

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Sami Zubaida (born 1937) is Emeritus Professor of Politics and Sociology at Birkbeck, and also holds posts as Professorial Research Associate at the Food Studies Centre at the School of Oriental and African Studies, and Research Associate at the London Middle East Institute at SOAS.

His research involves the religion, culture, politics and law of the Middle East, with particular attention to Egypt, Iran, Iraq and Turkey. His other research interest is food history and culture, ranging comparatively over Europe, the Middle East and India.

Born in Iraq, Sami Zubaida went to school in Baghdad before studying at the Universities of Hull and Leicester. He is the author of the recently published Beyond Islam: A New Understanding of the Middle East. Professor Zubaida’s earlier books include Islam, the People and the State: Political Ideas and Movements in the Middle East; A Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East; and Law and Power in the Islamic World.

As a Visiting Hauser Global Professor of Law in 2006, Sami Zubaida taught Law and Politics in the Islamic World at New York University School of Law. In 2008 he was Shaykh Zayed Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the American University of Beirut, and in 2009 he delivered the Peter Green Lecture on the Modern Middle East at Brown University, USA. In 2011 his public lectures included speaking at Ravenna University, Italy; at the International Association of Media and Communication Research Conference, Istanbul; and delivering a keynote lecture at the Arab Thought Forum, Jordan.

Reviews

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second time that I have read this wonderful book by Zubeida, almost every page brings an interesting insight or a new perspective, such as his discussion of alcohol or (homo)sexuality in the Middle East. I enjoy how refreshing the book is with its alternate views on Islam, especially when it comes to Islam and politics, modernity, social boundaries, and identity. He addresses the politics of the pre-modern Middle East, the revivalists of the 18th century (Afghani, Abduh, Rida'), Banna, and Qutb of the 19th, the the liberal age that ended with independence and Arab nationalism. The latter eventually morphed into authoritarian states which decline started with the defeat of the Arab states in 1967 and opening up for a new wave of Islamic political revivalism and fundamentalism.

[Edz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating overview of the Middle East in which the common sense view of it as an “Islamic” space is problematized and demystified.

The author starts off by introducing the notion of modernity and its interplay with religion, identity politics and the “economy of desire”, portraying Islam as a religion with a complex and diverse history without subscribing to a specific essence. The first chapter illustrates the pitfalls of the essentialist perspective, taking to task famed philosopher Ernest Gellner’s description of a uniform Muslim society present throughout all of Islamic history. We then take a look at the manifestations of political modernity in the Middle East, with a special emphasis on Iran as an “Islamic Republic”. Afterwards, the author surveys the reification of identity politics on the eve of the Ottoman collapse, with many communities pinning the blame for decadence and backwardness on one another, followed by an analysis of the multiple factions (e.g cosmopolitans, fundamentalists, nationalists) seeking to make a mark on the political scene, each making use of prevalent nostalgic feelings for their ideological program (surprisingly many Freemasons figured among the liberal intelligentsia, such as Namik Kemal). The fifth chapter deals with the notion of the public and the private spheres in Middle Eastern society as a flexible medium which changes depending on the current socio-cultural makeup of a particular locale, a loophole which Islamists willingly exploit with ease. Finally, we close with the relationship between Islam and nationalism, linking it to pan-Arabism and nation-state policy in certain countries, filled with paradoxical yet complementary political climates.

I really enjoyed reading this book, a very refreshing perspective amidst all the media fanfare concerning this region which I call home.