Islam Without Fear: Egypt and the New Islamists

By Raymond William Baker

Book Overview

For the last several decades an influential group of Egyptian scholars and public intellectuals has been having a profound effect in the Islamic world. Raymond Baker offers a portrait of these New Islamists - Islamic scholars, lawyers, judges and journalists who provide the moral and intellectual foundations for a more fully realized Islamic community, open to the world and with full rights of active citizenship for women and non-Muslims. The New Islamists have a record of constructive engagement in Egyptian public life, balanced by an unequivocal critique of the excesses of Islamist extremists. Baker shows how the New Islamists are translating their thinking into action in education and the arts, economics and social life and politics and foreign relations despite an authoritarian political environment. including Muhammad al Ghazzaly, Kamal Abul Magd, Muhammad Selim al Awa, Fahmy Huwaidy, Tareq al Bishry and Yusuf al Qaradawy - regarded by some as the most influential Islamic scholar in the world today. Islam as a civilization that engages others and searches for common ground through shared values such as justice, peace, human rights and democracy.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674012038
• ISBN13: 9780674012035
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 309 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.1" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Brilliant and timely, a must-read

This highly readable and highly relevant book has given me an entirely new perspective on politics in the Middle East. Anyone concerned by the results in Iraq of our current understanding of the Middle East will see in this book the road map to another way. Baker provides perhaps the most balanced, well-informed, and optimistic perspective on Islamist politics available today. Whether you consider yourself conservative, liberal, or right down the middle, this book is a must-read.

Enlightening way with words

This was a wonderful journey into what might be of Islam. With all the turbulent noise surrounding it, The author sheds light on its core.He uses existing examples of moderate movments within the Egyptian society which gives it a realistic, hands-on feel. A great read for anyone who wants to know what is going on when it comes to hope within the Islamic world and how this framework of the new Islamists might be the answer.Superb refernces and quotes used throughout...