The Gertrude Bell Jar

This Year's Model

I laid Sacred Rage aside for a time, partly to read the New Political Religions book (which turned out to be disappointing, of which more later), and partly because the author's commitment to explaining Islamism as basically just Shiism was getting on my nerves. As I mentioned in the previous entry on this, the book was written in the mid-80s when the to-do was all about Iran and Hizbollah. And the thing is, Wright's a journalist, so she's just reporting what the experts are telling her. She does provide all the quotes and everything, including extensive quotes from Islamist sources and eyewitnesses in Lebanon and so forth, so it will be well worth reading at some point. But I got to the part where someone tells her that Shiism somehow wasn't causing a violent revolutionary movement for the previous 1400 years because it was busy "simmering," and that was just about enough for a little while.

So, on to a rare title (from 1994) focusing on the often overlooked Jama'at-I Islami of Pakistan that I found remaindered at Powell's a few weeks ago. The introduction states: "The study of Islamic revivalism has until now concentrated primarily on Iran and the Arab world and has, as a result, been somewhat restricted in its outlook. A comprehensive theoretical approach will need to consider revivalist activity elsewhere." Oh, you don't say. The book is entitled The Vanguard of the Islamic Revolution, of course. And actually the JI will be so indeed if they ever manage to assassinate Musharraf. Fun follows when, etc. (It's kind of hair-raising to imagine what it would have been like if 9/11 had had to be called off for some reason and never happened, and Jama'at sympathizers managing a coup in nuclear Pakistan became the thing that finally and suddenly got our attention instead. Apart from the whole riveting Islamists with nukes thing, everyone would be obsessing about these guys and totally ignoring al Qaeda, which would nonetheless still be very much al Qaeda.)

But 9/11 did happen, and Jama'at must soldier on in obscurity yet a little while longer. Remember Muslim Brotherhood-obsessed ex-CIA man Robert Baer? His colleague, "Anonymous," praises him effusively in the preface to his own book Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror, and then never mentions the MB again in the entire book. That's because in his book (published in 2004), Islamism is al Qaeda. Jama'at is also mentioned about a dozen times, in a detailed summary of all Islamist terrorist attacks worldwide since 9/11, although the name is spelled 3or 4 different ways (apparently English transliteration of Arabic and Urdu is not very standardized), and it is sometimes only referred to as "a Pakistani group." (Although in fairness there are several Pakistani Islamist groups that could be the group being referenced; I haven't gone through and looked up the specific instances. JI is just the most active on average). I don't know if the different spellings have been left in the text because "Anonymous" doesn't actually know that they all refer to the same entity, or if he presumes that his readers don't, and doesn't want them to get all distracted from his thesis by noticing anybody other than Osama bin Laden.

Well, it's all beginning to look a bit like carelessness, if you ask me.

Hijab/Mohammad Ismail Memon Madani

Hijab: the Islamic Commandments of Hijab by Dr. Mohammad Ismail Memon Madani.

This is from the cache of English-translation books from Pakistan for expat or converted Muslims in the West that my husband brought back for me from Manchester. The author attempts to demonstrate that the Koran calls for the burqa and gloves, though face veiling that reveals only the eyes is also acceptable "in an emergency." It's about as convincing as you want it to be, I suppose. The argument centers on disproving the theory that the two sets of Koranic verses that have been interpreted as calling for hijab were directed only at the wives of the Prophet, mainly by pointing out how in these and other verses of the Koran the wives of the Prophet are enjoined to do things that are indeed expected of all Muslims. The author prefers to ignore the fact that one set of verses also calls on wives of the Prophet never to remarry after his death, a requirement that has never been imposed on other Muslim women, while the other begins with the phrase "You are not like other women." He does supply a chain of interpretation from various commentators on the Koran that allows him to ascribe his highly specific meaning to the somewhat vague original verses, in a way which would tend to confirm Zubaida's theory that much of the Sharia is a formalization of Arab cultural practice, if only one could be certain the citation of authorities isn't too selective to be meaningful. The fact of the matter is that there has never been a single standard for hijab for Muslim women across all of the nations and cultures in which Islam has flourished, so the history of interpretation cited here must be partial at best.

Who Killed Daniel Pearl?/Bernard-Henri Levy

Who Killed Daniel Pearl? by Bernard-Henri Levy.

The French philosopher and writer retraces the steps of journalist Daniel Pearl during his last few weeks on earth, in order to try to understand Pearl, the men who killed him, and why the kidnapping and murder was carried out. His "man who knew too much" conclusions about the reasons for Pearl's death are tenuous, but getting there is a fascinating process, as Levy explores the labyrinthine structure of transnational terror organizations, the Pakistani intelligence service, CIA history in the Middle East, al Qaeda training camps, and a medrassa reputed to serve as a sometime hiding place for Osama bin Laden. Quite a gripping tale, and one that brings a certain substance and immediacy to people and organizations that often seem too shadowy and bizarre to be real.

The Islamic Mafia

Wow, a review of this book coming soon to an blog near you ...