Faith in Moderation

Abstract

Much that has been written about political Islam emphasizes the negativeimages of suicide bombings, bearded and seemingly blind proponents ofjihad, patriarchal gender ideologies, and intolerance toward non-Muslims.Jillian Schwedler’s comparative study of two “Islamist” political parties inJordan and Yemen, respectively, is a welcome reminder that Muslims arejust as capable of protecting their faith in moderation as anyone else. Herbook provides a valuable record of the historical development of bothJordan’s Islamic Action Front (IAF: Jabhat al-`Aml al-Islami) and theYemeni Congregation for Reform, better known simply as the Islah(Reform) party.A political scientist with first-hand experience in both countries,she has researched the previous literature on each party and conductedover three dozen formal on-the-record interviews with party officials andother relevant individuals (and more than 200 political actors overall, p. 31).The bulk of the interviews were conducted between 1995 and 1998, withfollow-up trips as recently as 2003 ...