Globalization 11

Globalized Islam

Muslims, like other immigrants, have come to the West in search of better economic opportunities. But are they bound to clash with their Western counterparts ? In this Globalist Interview, Olivier Roy — author of “Globalized Islam : The Search For a New Ummah” — explains that, due to globalization, these two groups actually have much more in common today t […].

“Universal form of Islam”.

Interview with Chandra Muzaffar *. This interview took place on Oct. 10, 2001 How has the practice of Islam changed or the influence on Islam changed over the last 20, 30 years in Malaysia ? As in a number of other post-colonial societies, Muslims in Malaysia have become very conscious of their Islamic identity. And they have sought and expressed that […].

Globalisation and the Future of Islamic Civilisation

Let me begin with civilisation. A British philosopher, Bertrand Russel, once said ’civilisation was born out of the pursuit of luxury’. Because luxury was pursued you ended up with great works, music, the Palace of Versailles, the Taj Mahal etc. Then much closer to our times you had civilisation interpreted more in economic terms, and you had Adam Smith vi […].

Jihad International Inc

The violence of Islamism has emerged as a subject of anxious concern throughout the world, especially the Muslim world. In the United States, the Islamic resistance to Israel’s occupation of Lebanon, the West Bank, Gaza, and Golan and such incidents as the alleged plot to blow up the International Trade Center in New York City, have aided the media and oth […].

Globalized Islam

In 2002, after years of work on political Islam, French scholar Olivier Roy published a major book on “globalized Islam” *. A revised and updated version of this work has now been published in English. According to Roy’s analysis, contemporary Islamic projects are becoming increasingly disconnected from a particular territory, partly as a consequence of […].

Beyond Jihad Vs. McWorld

The terrorist attacks of September 11 did without a doubt change the world forever, but they failed to change the ideological viewpoint of either the left or the right in any significant way. The terrorist attacks of September 11 did without a doubt change the world forever, but they failed to change the ideological viewpoint of either the left or the ri […].

Global Crisis

A SMALL news item reported that Prince Walid Ibn Talal of Saudi Arabia had donated $10m to the American University of Cairo to establish a centre of American studies. The young billionaire had offered an unsolicited $10m to New York City soon after 11 September 2001, with a letter that described the gift as a tribute to New York and suggested that the Uni […].

A window on the world.

Western scholars helped justify the war in Iraq, says Edward Said, with their orientalist ideas about the ’Arab mind’. Twenty-five years after the publication of his post-colonial classic, the author of Orientalism argues that humanist understanding is now more urgently required than ever before. Nine years ago I wrote an afterword for Orientalism which, […].