Allah in the West by Kepel, Gilles;

Short description:

* Kepel is one of the World's leading authorities on Islamic societies and movements.

* Comparative in approach, this book examines the significance of Islam in Western Countries.

* A new look at a topical and controversial subject; this book goes beyond the headlines.

Long description:

This new book is an outstanding account of the ways in which Islam is asserting its identity in the West today.

Gilles Kepel is one of Europe's leading authorities on contemporary Islam. This new book is an outstanding account of the ways in which Islam is asserting its identity in the West today.

Kepel discusses the most spectacular and controversial manifestations of this phenomenon: the Rushdie affair, the 'veil' incident in France (when the French debated whether to allow three Muslim girls to wear an Islamic veil to attend state school) and the 'Islamization' of American black ghettos under the banner of the Black Muslims.

However, Kepel goes behind these headline events, arguing that new social, cultural, political and religious 'fault lines' have emerged, centred around a particular brand of Islamic activism which operates at the very heart of post-industrial society. The Islamic movements of Europe and America, he suggests, are establishing themselves outside the areas where Islam has traditionally been present: using universal western languages, having ready access to the broadcast media, and evolving in a democratic political system, they form the avant-garde of the faith's expansion across the world.

From the streets of Los Angeles to Britain's inner cities and France's run-down suburbs, Kepel observes the work of Islamic activists who put forward an alternative lifestyle and beliefs to those of the now disoriented West.

Lucid and penetrating, Allah in the West will be welcomed by students and researchers in sociology, politics and religious studies, and by anyone interested in Islamic society.

'Perceptive analysis ... it raises the right questions, all of them difficult.' Times Literary Supplement

'The message of this well-informed and well-documented book is one which deserves to be taken seriously.' International Affairs

'Provocative, original and controversial, France's pre-eminent authority on contemporary Islam provides us with an analysis of one of the central problems of our times: the relationship between Islam and the West. By focusing on Muslims living in the West, Gilles Kepel highlights an important dimension of the interaction. The book is recommended not only to academics but, equally important, to policy planners also'. Professor Akbar Ahmed, Selwyn College, Cambridge

'A thought-provoking and extremely well-informed contribution to the literature.' Political Studies

'The work is interesting, highly informative and adds to our knowledge and understanding of a growing contemporary phenomenon ... the book will be useful for political scientists, sociologists and others who engage with debates concerning citizenship, identity and race as well as for those concerned with the study of Islam.' Contemporary Politics

Table of Contents:

Introduction.

Part I: 'In the Wilderness of North America':.

1. The Birth of an American Religion.

2. The Three Lives of Malcolm X.

3. Farrakhan in the Looking-Glass of America.

Part II: The Britannic Verses:.

4. Return to the Empire.

5. 'Britishness' and Identity.

6. The Rushdie Affair.

Part III: France, Land of Islam:.

7. The FIS Versus the 'Sons of France'.

8. Behind the Veil.

9. The Communalist Challenge.

Conclusion.

Notes.

Index.