Contesting the Saudi state : Islamic voices from a new generation / Madawi Al-Rasheed.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Al-Rasheed, Madawi.

Series:

Cambridge Middle East studies ; 25.

Cambridge Middle East studies ; 25

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Politics and government.

Political culture.

Dissenters.

Saudi Arabia--Intellectual life--20th century.

Saudi Arabia.

Intellectual life.

Saudi Arabia--Intellectual life--21st century.

Dissenters--Saudi Arabia.

Political culture--Saudi Arabia.

Islam and politics--Saudi Arabia.

Islam and politics.

Saudi Arabia--Politics and government--21st century.

Physical Description:

xxi, 308 pages : maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Summary:

The terms Wahhabi or Salafi are seen as interchangeable and are frequently misunderstood by outsiders. However, as Madawi Al-Rasheed explains in a fascinating exploration of Saudi Arabia in the twenty-first century, even Saudis do not agree on their meaning. Under the influence of mass education, printing, new communication technology, and global media, they are forming their own conclusions and debating religion and politics in traditional and novel venues, often violating official taboos and the conservative values of Saudi society. Drawing on classical religious sources, contemporary readings and interviews, Al-Rasheed presents an ethnography of consent and contest, exploring the fluidity of the boundaries between the religious and political. Bridging the gap between text and context, the author also examines how states and citizens manipulate religious discourse for purely political ends, and how this manipulation generates unpredictable reactions whose control escapes those who initiated them.

Contents:

Introduction: debating religion and politics in the twenty-first century 1

1 Consenting subjects: official Wahhabi religio-political discourse 22

2 Re-enchanting politics: Sahwis from contestation to co-optation 59

3 Struggling in the way of God abroad: from localism to transnationalism 102

4 Struggling in the way of God at home: the politics and poetics of jihad 134

5 Debating Salafis: Lewis Atiyat Allah and the jihad obligation 175

6 Searching for the unmediated word of God 211.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-302) and indexes.

ISBN:

0521858364

OCLC:

71164298