Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr

how conflicts within Islam will shape the future

The Shia revival

“Historically incisive, geographically broad-reaching, and brimming with illuminating anecdotes.” —Max Rodenbeck, New York Review of Books One of America’s leading commentators on current events in the Middle East, Iranian-born scholar Vali Nasr brilliantly dissects the political and theological antagonisms within Islam in this “smart, clear and timely” book (Washington Post). Still essential and still timely ten years after its original publication, The Shia Revival provides a unique and objective understanding of the 1,400-year bitter struggle between Shias and Sunnis and sheds crucial light on its modern-day consequences. A new epilogue elucidates the rise of ISIS and ongoing tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The Shia Revival

In this groundbreaking study, Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr examines the origins, historical development, and political strategies of one of the oldest and most influential Islamic revival movements, the Jama'at-i Islami of Pakistan. He focuses on the inherent tension between the movement's idealized vision of the nation as a holy community based in Islamic law and its political agenda of socioeconomic change for Pakistani society. Nasr's work goes beyond the exploration of a single party to examine the diverse sociopolitical roots of contemporary Islamic revivalism, challenging many of the standard interpretations about political expressions of Islam.

The Jama'at-i Islami of Pakistan

The Vanguard of the Islamic Revolution

Vali Nasr

Leading authority on the Islamic world and influential advisor to the Obama administration Vali Nasr shows that the West's best hope of winning the battle against Islamic extremists is to foster the growth of a vibrant new Muslim middle class. This flourishing of Muslim bourgeoisie is reshaping the mind-set, politics, and even the religious values of Muslims in much the same way the Western bourgeoisie lead the capitalist and democratic revolution in Europe. Whereas extremism has grown out of the dismal economic failures of the authoritarian Islamic regimes, Nasr explains, the wealth and aspirations of this Islamic "critical middle" put them squarely at odds with extremism. They have ushered in remarkable transformations already in Dubai, Turkey, and Indonesia, and they are the key to tipping the balance in both Iran and Pakistan. As he writes "the great battle for the soul of the Muslim world will be fought not over religion but over market capitalism."

The Rise of the New Muslim Middle Class and What It Will Mean for Our World

Forces of Fortune

Nasr examines the life and thought of Mawlana Mawdudi, one of the first and most important Islamic ideological thinkers. Mawdudi was the first to develop a modern political Islamic ideology, and a plan for social action to realize his vision. The prolific writings and indefatigable efforts of Mawdudi's party, the Jamaat-i-Islami, first in India and later in Pakistan, have disseminated his ideas far and wide. His views have informed revivalism from Morocco to Malaysia. Nasr discerns the events that led Mawdudi to a revivalist perspective, and probes the structure of his thought, in order to gain fresh insights into the origins of Islamic revivalism. He argues that Islamic revivalism did not simply develop as a cultural rejection of the West, rather it was closely tied to questions of communal politics and its impact on identity formation, discourse of power in plural societies, and nationalism. Mawdudi's discourse, though aimed at the West, was motivated by Muslim-Hindu competition for power in British India. His aim, according to Nasr, was to put forth a view of Islam whose invigorated, pristine, and uncompromising outlook would galvanize Muslims into an ideologically uniform and hence politically indivisible community. In time, this view developed a life of its own and evolved into an all-encompassing perspective on society and politics, and has been a notable force in South Asia and Muslim life and thought across the Muslim world.

Mawdudi and the Making of Islamic Revivalism

Hamid Dabashi

Seyyed Hossein Nasr

This is an anthology of the most significant writing on the doctrinal, intellectual, and spiritual dimensions of Shicism. The works included here foster an interpretive understanding of Shicism in its dogmatic and cognitive aspects. The intent of this book is to balance the attention that has been focused on the political aspect of Shicism. Shicism is often seen, not only as an essentially political phenomenon, but as a creed of violence. Understanding Shicism in its total reality will encourage a more balanced approach to issues which are viewed mostly politically. While not denying the importance of political manifestations, this book offers an understanding of the often neglected religious beliefs and spiritual practices of this world community.

Doctrines, Thought, and Spirituality

Shi'ism

Ali Gheissari

Looking at the political history of Iran in the modern era, this book assesses the prospects for democracy to flourish there. Arguing that democracy in Iran isn't a sudden development or a western import, it also seeks to understand why democracy failed to grow roots and lost ground to an autocratic Iranian state.

History and the Quest for Liberty

Democracy in Iran

Islamization is commonly seen as the work of Islamist movements who have forced their ideology on ruling regimes and other hapless social actors. There is little doubt that ruling regimes and disparate social and political actors alike are pushed in the direction of Islamic politics by Islamist forces. However, Islamist activism and its revolutionary and utopian rhetoric only partly explain this trend. Here, Nasr argues that the state itself plays a key role in embedding Islam in the politics of Muslim countries. Focusing on Malaysia and Pakistan, Nasr argues that the turn to Islam is a facet of the state's drive to establish hegemony over society and expand its powers and control.

Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr

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