The Crisis of Islamic Civilization

The Crisis of Islamic Civilization by Ali A. Allawi

Islam as a religion is central to the lives of over a billion people, but its outer expression as a distinctive civilization is undergoing a monumental crisis. Buffet by powerful adverse currents, Islamic civilization today is a shadow of its former self. The most disturbing and possibly fatal of these currents -- the imperial expansion of the West into Muslim lands and the blast of modernity that accompanied it -- are now compounded by a third giant wave, globalization.

These forces have increasingly tested Islam and Islamic civilization for validity, adaptability, and the ability to hold on to the loyalty of Muslims, says Ali Allawi in his provocative new book. While the faith has proved resilient in the face of these challenges, other aspects of Islamic civilization have atrophied or died, Allawi contends, and Islamic civilization is now undergoing its last crisis.

The book explores how Islamic civilization began to unravel under colonial rule, as its institutions, laws, and economies were often replaced by inadquate modern equivalents. Allawi also examines the backlash expressed through the increasing religiosity of Muslim socieities and the spectacular rise of political Islam and its terrorist offshoots. Assessing the status of each of the building blocks of Islamic civilization cannot survive without the vital spirituality that underpinned it in the past. He identifies a key set of principles for moving forward, principles that will surprise some and anger others, yet clearly must be considered.

Yale University Press, Hardcover, 1st Edition, 1st Printing, 2009