The movement of nation building in Islamic societies away from the secular or Pan-Arab models of the early twentieth century toward a variety of "nationalisms" was accompanied by growing antagonism between the Muslim majority and ethnic or religious minorities. The papers in Nationalism and Minority Identities in Islamic Societies offer a comparative analysis of how these minorities developed their own distinctive identities within the modern Islamic nation-state. The essays focus on identity formation in five minority groups - Copts in Egypt, Baha'is and Christians in Pakistan, Berbers in Algeria and Morocco, and Kurds in Turkey and Iraq. While every minority community is distinctive, the experiences of each show that a state's authoritarian rule, uncompromising attitude towards expressions of particularism, and failure to offer tools for inclusion are all responsible for the politicization and radicalization of minority identities. The place of Islam in this process is complex: while its initial pluralistic role was transformed through the creation of the modern nation-state, the radicalization of society in turn radicalized and politicized minority identities. Minority groups, though at times possessing a measure of political autonomy, remain intensely vulnerable. Contributors include Juan R.I. Cole (University of Michigan), David L. Crawford (Fairfield University), Michael Gunter (Tennessee Technological University), Azzedine Layachi (St John's University), Richard C. Martin (Emory University), Paul S. Rowe (University of Western Ontario), Maya Shatzmiller (University of Western Ontario), Charles D. Smith (University of Arizona), Pieternella van Doorn-Harder (Valparaiso University), the late Linda S. Walbridge (University of Oklahoma), and M. Hakan Yavuz (University of Utah). Announcing the series: Studies in Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict General Editors: Sid Noel and Richard Vernon, co-directors of University of Western Ontario's Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict Research Group. Studies in Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict is a series that examines the political dimensions of nationality in the contemporary world. The series includes both scholarly monographs and edited volumes which consider the varied sources and political expressions of national identities, the politics of multiple loyalty, the domestic and international effects of competing identities within a single state, and the causes of, and political responses to, conflict between ethnic and religious groups. The volumes are designed for use by university students, scholars and interested general readers.

Examining the theoretical problems which arose when the modern European ideology of nationalism was adopted by Muslim societies organized into formally modern states, this book, first published in 1987, also deals with the practical difficulties arising from the doctrinal incompatibility between Islam and the non-Muslim concept of the territorial nation-state. It illustrates this conflict with a consideration of the record of several states in the Islamic world. It suggests that whereas the state, an organization of power, has been a most durable institution in Islamic history, the legitimacy of the nation-state has always been challenged in favour of the wide Islamic Nation, the "umma", which comprises all the faithful without reference to territorial boundaries. To this extent too, the more recent conception of Arab nationalism projects a far larger nation-state than the existing territorial states in the Arab world today. This title will be of interest to students of Middle Eastern studies.

This survey of the literature on the development of nationalism in Muslim countries also examines the status of the ummah in Muslim nation states as well as activities of Muslim nations through the OIC.

To a market ideology.

Essays Collected In The Volume Examine The Problem Of Muslim Identity Particularly In Plural Societies.Some Of The Topics Covered Are: Sectarian Strife In Lucknow, Kashmiri Muslims, Tablighis, Bengali Muslims, Bosnian Tangle, Partition`S Biharis, Meo Identity, Nepali Muslims, Women, Legal Reforms And Muslim Identity, Religion In Transcaucasia, Muslim Identity In Balkans, Biharis In Bangladesh, Islamic Militancy In Nwfp, Muslim Minority In Sri Lanka, Divide And Quit In Bosnia And Mohd. Ali`S Quest For Identity In Colonial India.

This book sheds light on how Hizbullah has transformed religious rituals and supernatural narratives in order to mobilize the Shi’a community. The author examines how Hizbullah has altered its institutional structure and reconstructed Lebanese Shi’a history in a manner similar to that of nationalist movements. Through fieldwork and research, the project finds that Hizbullah has centralized around the concept of Wilayat al-Fagih (Gaurdianship of the Islamic Jurists): in essence, the absolute authority of Iran’s Supreme Leader over the Shi’a “nation.”

Throughout history, humanity has borne witness to the political and moral challenges that arise when people place national identity above allegiance to geo-political states or international communities. This book discusses the concept of nations and nationalism from social, philosophical, geological, theological and anthropological perspectives. It examines the subject through conflicts past and present, including recent conflicts in the Balkans and the Middle East, rather than exclusively focusing on theory. Above all, this fascinating and comprehensive work clearly shows how feelings of nationalism are an inescapable part of being human.