The Islamic Utopia

This book is an interesting exposition of the reform discourse and reform ironies in the desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia ... a country ambivalent in its sense of security and insecurity, content in its presumed “orthodoxy,” uncertain about where it fits in this world and about its future, and unsure...

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Autor principal: Amr Sabet
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: International Institute of Islamic Thought 2014
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/f97809b5950e4a42a2870560477fa47c
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:f97809b5950e4a42a2870560477fa47c2021-12-02T19:41:16ZThe Islamic Utopia10.35632/ajis.v31i3.10612690-37332690-3741https://doaj.org/article/f97809b5950e4a42a2870560477fa47c2014-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/view/1061https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3733https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3741 This book is an interesting exposition of the reform discourse and reform ironies in the desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia ... a country ambivalent in its sense of security and insecurity, content in its presumed “orthodoxy,” uncertain about where it fits in this world and about its future, and unsure as to what extent it can continue to linger in its self-imposed cocoon – and yet, by the same token, how far it can go in opening up to a perceived threatening world. All of this ambivalence, as one senses while reading the book, hinders, obstructs, and consequently undermines King Abdullah’s alleged attempts at reform. In fact, as Hammond points out, many of these reforms have been nothing but “window dressing … driven entirely by the desire to protect the extraordinary powers of the Saudi royal family,” as well as by a felt necessity to appease the Americans (p. 150). Despite the king’s efforts to project the image of himself as a reformist, one “religious reform” (ṣaḥwah) figure describes him as simply being “out of the arena” (p. 137). Reforms, particularly judicial reforms, which Hammond describes as Abdullah’s “central plank,” are defined by a Najdi context as well as in Najdi terms (Najd is the central region of the Arabian Peninsula). The result has been a polity “trapped” within a pre-modern framework and ... Amr SabetInternational Institute of Islamic ThoughtarticleIslamBP1-253ENAmerican Journal of Islam and Society, Vol 31, Iss 3 (2014)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Islam
BP1-253
spellingShingle Islam
BP1-253
Amr Sabet
The Islamic Utopia
description This book is an interesting exposition of the reform discourse and reform ironies in the desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia ... a country ambivalent in its sense of security and insecurity, content in its presumed “orthodoxy,” uncertain about where it fits in this world and about its future, and unsure as to what extent it can continue to linger in its self-imposed cocoon – and yet, by the same token, how far it can go in opening up to a perceived threatening world. All of this ambivalence, as one senses while reading the book, hinders, obstructs, and consequently undermines King Abdullah’s alleged attempts at reform. In fact, as Hammond points out, many of these reforms have been nothing but “window dressing … driven entirely by the desire to protect the extraordinary powers of the Saudi royal family,” as well as by a felt necessity to appease the Americans (p. 150). Despite the king’s efforts to project the image of himself as a reformist, one “religious reform” (ṣaḥwah) figure describes him as simply being “out of the arena” (p. 137). Reforms, particularly judicial reforms, which Hammond describes as Abdullah’s “central plank,” are defined by a Najdi context as well as in Najdi terms (Najd is the central region of the Arabian Peninsula). The result has been a polity “trapped” within a pre-modern framework and ...
format article
author Amr Sabet
author_facet Amr Sabet
author_sort Amr Sabet
title The Islamic Utopia
title_short The Islamic Utopia
title_full The Islamic Utopia
title_fullStr The Islamic Utopia
title_full_unstemmed The Islamic Utopia
title_sort islamic utopia
publisher International Institute of Islamic Thought
publishDate 2014
url https://doaj.org/article/f97809b5950e4a42a2870560477fa47c
work_keys_str_mv AT amrsabet theislamicutopia
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