Multiple Modernities, Civil Society and Islam

Turkey and Iran consider themselves modern Islamic states—though with radically different status in today’s social and political world. In Multiple Modernities, Civil Society and Islam, Kamali explores the historical factors that have shaped such dissimilar Muslim states, including the continued influence of Europe and the United States. Kamali’s assertion that the “Muslim world” is far more multifaceted and pluralistic than generally portrayed is a message particularly relevant today. The attacks on the World Trade Centre in New Yorkand the Pentagon in Washington DC are covertly and, in manycases, even overtly considered as ‘the clash of civilizations’. Itis presented as a sign of a conflict between the modern,democratic, and secularised civilization of the “Western world”and the traditional, non-democratic, and religious “Islamicworld”. The post-September 11th changes have created anenvironment where human societies have been over-simplified, dividing the world into two “sides” along an axis of “us” and“them”. This challenging study reveals that there is no “Islamic world”, no single tradition of modernity, but multiple patternsof socio-political developments in different Muslim countrieswith both common features and differences.