Caryle Murphy was the Washington Post's bureau chief in Cairo for a good long while, and she now covers religion for the Post now, living in Washington. This book was apparently in preparation before 9/11--almost all of the events in the text occurred in the late 90s or earlier. Murphy interviewed a number of people, including Islamists of various stripes, secularists, government officials, clerics, and other observers. The result is an interesting picture of Egyptian society and its relationship with its Muslim citizen.
Many in the west equate Islam with evil intent, extremist politics and intolerance, misogyny, and a host of other very negative attitudes. All of these are held by *some* Islamists from the extreme portion of the religion, and in some ways they can't be called the fringe--they're too mainstream. The author does a good job of describing the various participants in the movement, and explains the roots of the Muslim Brotherhood, the start of extremist Muslim thought in Egypt and the place Ayman al-Zawahiri got his start in politics, before he went on to become #2 in Al Qaeda.
The author works hard to discuss the various aspects of Islam and its relationship to Egyptian society, from how Islam deals with Christians in Egypt to the various ways the religion interacts with the government in Egypt to the way Al-Azhar University has dealt with the rise of Islamic Fundamentalism in Egypt. The result of the book is a clear picture of how Islamist thought, and extremism, have spread in Egypt, and why.
I enjoyed this book a great deal, and thought that I learned a great deal from it. I would recommend if to almost anyone interested in the subject.
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