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The Broken Crescent: The "Threat" of Militant Islamic Fundamentalism

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The Broken Crescent: The Threat of Militant Islamic Fundamentalism By Fereydoun Hoveyda, Praeger.

This book is of great importance to all those who want to comprehend the roots and the scope of militant Islamic fundamentalism in our present time. The author dissipates the confusing clouds that hang over most of the texts published about Islam by so-called experts. For one thing, he rejects the gobble-de-gook wooden style of most academic writings. It is easily readable and understandable.

The book reminds us that Islam as one of the of the major world religions, turned "fundamentalist" around the 12th century and has remained so up to now. Actually simple fundamentalism is found in almost all religions and "returning to the roots" of a religion does not imply militancy. The militants and the "official" clerics of Egypt's el-Azhar or Tunisia's Zeituni Islamic universities (for instance) share many current official interpretations of the Quran. But the latter do not invite the faithful to kill or commit other criminal acts as the former do.

Before the 12th century, the Muslim world was a relatively open society allowing speculative thinking and welcoming the classical cultures of antiquity, Greek, Persian, Indian, etc. Muslim scholars such as and scientists such as Avicenna or Averroes, flourished and produced an important body of work.

The triumph of fundamentalism stopped this and marked the beginning of a steady decline. Muslims rejected the science and philosophy they had developed. Their past work and knowledge was picked up by western universities and lead to the Renaissance in Europe. The author affirms that if fundamentalists had not won in the 12th century, the scientific and industrial revolutions would have happened in the Muslim world! He dubs as "unbearable" the cost of fundamentalism and its terrorist tactics is even more harmful. The leaders of this brand of super-fundamentalism, affirms the author, want to revive the Jihad in order to bring the whole world under their banner.

The book brushes up the history of militant fundamentalism and its revival by Khomeini after his seizure of power in Iran. In a way, American and other Western policies helped to achieve the success of militant fundamentalists in Iran, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Hoveyda's narratives contain a wealth of information. He demonstrates with clarity that militant Islamic fundamentalism is essentially a political movement and not a religious one.

Although Islamic fundamentalism may pose a threat to the West, it will be more "lethal" to the Muslim world itself. Moreover, Islamic fundamentalism cannot answer the needs of Muslim countries in the coming century. On the contrary, it will push them further back. In order to prevent total decay, Muslim intellectuals should undertake a formidable cultural effort and reject old fundamentalist interpretations... Hoveyda's work is a must read for all those interested in the question. As reviewer said: "Hoveyda has written the most sensible analytic book about the significance and the role of militant Islamic fundamentalism to appear so far." Indeed, this book is revealing... Guy Revol ++

This book by a former Iranian diplomat deserves far more attention than it has received. It offers a very readable survey of the latest literature available on Islamic fundamentalism in a number of languages. Hoveyda draws heavily on the writings of several European experts on Islamic fundamentalism including Olivier Roy, Maxime Rodinson, Amir Taheri, Bruno Etienne and Gilles Kepel, whose works may not be readily available to the American public. Hoveyda's conclusions may seem pessimistic. Roy and others have shown that Islamic fundamentalism is on the decline and, a decade from now, would not represent a major political force in any important Islamic country. This, however, does not mean that " the beast" of fanaticism could not raise its head here and there at some future point. A READER IN LONDON

This book by a former Iranian diplomat deserves far more attention than it has received. It offers a very readable survey of the latest literature available on Islamic fundamentalism in a number of languages. Hoveyda draws heavily on the writings of several European experts on Islamic fundamentalism including Olivier Roy, Maxime Rodinson, Amir Taheri, Bruno Etienne and Gilles Kepel, whose works may not be readily available to the American public. Hoveyda's conclusions may seem pessimistic. Roy and others have shown that Islamic fundamentalism is on the decline and, a decade from now, would not represent a major political force in any important Islamic country. This, however, does not mean that " the beast" of fanaticism could not raise its head here and there at some future point. A READER IN LONDON