"In this updated paperback edition, Dale Eickelman and James Piscatori explore how the politics of Islam play out in the lives of Muslims throughout the world. They discuss how recent events such as September 11 and the 2003 war in Iraq have contributed to reshaping the political and religious landscape of Muslim-majority countries and Muslim communities elsewhere. As they examine the role of women in public life and Islamic perspectives on modernization and free speech, the authors probe the diversity of the contemporary Islamic experience, suggesting general trends and challenging popular Western notions of Islam as a monolithic movement. In so doing, they clarify concepts such as tradition, authority, ethnicity, protest, and symbolic space, notions that are crucial to an in-depth understanding of ongoing political events."--BOOK JACKET.

Includes maps of: Muslims in the World; Mecca-centric View of the World.

What is Muslim politics? --The invention of tradition in Muslim politics -- Sacred authority in contemporary Muslim societies -- The "firmest tie" and the ties that bind : the politics of family and ethnicity -- Protest and bargaining in Muslim politics -- Muslim politics : a changing political geography.