A critique of modern Islamic political thought on the ‘state’, this book takes the form of a three-part dialogue with the West, with Islamic tradition and with 20^th-century Muslim thinkers. The author discusses the divide between Islamic values and the basic principles which guide Western political thought. He traces the development of Muslim constitutional practice and considers the current debate on the nature of and desirability for an ‘Islamic state’. He separates the problems that are internally derived from by-products of Western culture. Dr El-Affendi argues that if Islamic values were brought to bear internationally, the entrenched dogmas of Western political thought as much as both the tradition-bound and modernist trends of Muslim thinking would have to be revised.

A must-read for those interested in the theory of the Islamic State.

This second editions contains a Foreword by Professor Ziauddin Sardar, a new Introduction by the author, and two new sections as appendices.