Mariam Abou Zahab

This collection of essays brings together two sets of articles and book chapters by Mariam Abou Zahab, the extraordinary late scholar of Islam in South Asia. The first part of the volume examines Shia-Sunni relations in Pakistan, while the second concerns violent Islamism in the country, covering both the Talibanisation of the Pashtun belt and the jihadi dimension of South Asian Salafism. Throughout these texts, Abou Zahab explores the many reasons why Pakistan has been the crucible of political Islam. She offers a historical view of this development, factoring in the impact of colonialism and conflict, including the Soviet-Afghan War and the post-9/11 Western military operations in Afghanistan. While making clear the major importance of these external influences, from Saudi Arabia and Iran to the US, she also places Pakistan's political Islam in the context of local cultures, mobilising her anthropological erudition without ever indulging in culturalism. Finally, she emphasises the sociological determinants of sectarianism, Talibanism and jihadism, as well as the political economy of these ideologies. Abou Zahab's knowledge is exhaustive, but in these papers she offers an elegant synthesis in which each word matters. This volume is indispensable for understanding the present dynamics of Pakistan.

A Kaleidoscope of Islam

Pakistan

Stéphane A. Dudoignon

Farian Sabahi

Joas Wagemakers

Thomas Pierret

Sabrina Mervin

Bayram Balci

Roel Meijer

Rainer Brunner

Jean-François Legrain

Joseph Alagha

Reidar Visser

Altay Goyushov

Brecht De Smet

Before the immense changes of the 2011 'Arab Spring', it was Sunni-Shia sectarian rivalry that preoccupied most political analyses of the Middle East. This book presents wide-ranging and up-to-date research that sheds light on the political, sociological and ideological processes that are affecting the dynamics within the Shia and Sunni worlds.

Doctrine, Transnationalism, Intellectuals and the Media

The Dynamics of Sunni-Shia Relationships

Olivier Roy

Al Qaeda was unable to fully flex its muscles until it found sanctuary in Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden took refuge. Why was its sanctuary not attacked before September 2001, particularly after the bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998? This text aims to answer this question.

The Afghan-Pakistan Connection

Islamist Networks

Mariam Abou Zahab

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