The Empire and the Crescent : Global Implications for a New American Century

ISBN: 095405444X
Author: Ibrahim M Abu-Rabi (foreword); Aftab Ahmad Malik (editor); Hamza Yusuf (contributor); John L Esposito, Edward S Herman, Zaid Shakir, Barbara Metcalf, Abdal Hakim Murad, William Blum, Anthony Arnove, Pepe Escobar, Frida Berrigan, Shahid Alam, Hashim Kamali
Publisher: Amal Press (2003)
Pages: 210 Binding: Paperback

Description from the publisher:

The Empire & the Crescent invites readers to examine the role of the United States in world politics, and draws their attention to the dangers that open-ended and unchecked American power can cause to the world and ultimately, to itself.

With contributions from Hamza Yusuf, William Blum, Zaid Shakir, Edward Sherman, Barbara Metcalf, Abdal Hakim Murad and other eminent scholars and experts, this anthology offers a timely and authoritative perspective on the question of relations between the West and Islamic societies.

".. a very useful look at key issues facing all of us today."

—Barry Lando, former producer CBS 60 Minutes

Reviews

"Timely, eye-opening and engaging. Essential read for those who are interested in understanding America's new imperial role in the Middle East and its future impact on the relationship between Islam and the Western world.”

—Dr Haifaa Jawad, Senior Lecturer in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, University of Birmingham.

"…resonates with a commitment to common humanity by laying down a challenge to the extremism of the US Empire and to extremism in the Islamic world.The essays are powerful, extremely readable and significant in their content: ideal for the general reader and highly recommended for academic courses in world politics."

—Dr. Eric Herring, Senior Lecturer in International Politics, University of Bristol

"This is one of the most important books to appear since September 11th.."

—Mark Curtis, Author of Web of Deceit: Britain's Real Role in the World

"As public-minded people around the globe strive to make sense of the times we are in--especially the nature and aims of American power in relation to the Middle East--this collection is an indispensable resource."

—Wendy Brown, Professor of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley

"...a book that is compelling and authoritative."

—BBC Religion and Ethics

"...offers a chilling insight into the neo-conservative worldview and impact their proliferating think tanks have on present US policy."

—Dr Philip Lewis, Author of, Islamic Britain: Religion, Politics and Identity Among British Muslims. Inter-faith Adviser to the Bishop of Bradford and lecturer in Bradford University Department of Peace Studies

"This is one of the most important books to appear since September 11th.."

—Mark Curtis, Author of: Web of Deceit: Britain's Real Role in the World

"Like their compatriots in the heartlands, it appears that Muslims in the West must, more than ever, take a double stand against the extremists in their midst and against the rise of the American hyper-power on the back of the ‘war on terrorism’, an approach admirably outlined by The Empire and the Crescent: Global Implications for a New American Century [...]" —Muslim World Book Review, 24/2, Winter 2004

"The case for urgent re-evaluation and re-formulation of American foreign policy is made very eloquently" —The Muslim News

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Contributor's Bio

ABDAL HAKIM MURAD is a British broadcaster, writer and preacher. His publications include several translations of classical Arabic texts. He is currently Secretary of the Muslim Academic Trust, London.

ANTHONY ARNOVE is the editor of Iraq Under Siege: The Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War (South End Press and Pluto Press), recently updated in a new edition, and Terrorism and War, a collection of interviews with Howard Zinn published by Seven Stories Press. He also contributed to the introduction of The Struggle for Palestine (Haymarket Books). An activist based in Brooklyn, he is a member of the International Socialist Organization and the National Writers Union (UAW Local 1981, New York local). His writing has appeared in International Socialist Review, Socialist Worker, Z, Financial Times, In These Times, The Nation, Mother Jones, Left Business Observer, Monthly Review, and other publications. He is also the co-editor of a forthcoming book with Howard Zinn, Voices of People's History.

BARBARA METCALF is professor of history at UC Davis and ranks among the leading experts on the Taliban and the Deoband movement. Her publications include: Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband, 1860-1900 (Princeton University Press, 1982); Perfecting Women: Maulana Ashraf 'Ali Thanawi's Bihishti Zewar. Translation, annotation, and introduction (Berkeley: University of California Press) and "Tablighi Jama`at and Women" in Travelers in Faith: Studies of the Tablighi Jama`at as a Transnational Islamic Movement for Faith Renewal ed. Muhammad Khalid Masud. (Leiden: Brill)

EDWARD S. HERMAN is a Professor Emeritus of Finance at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and has written extensively on economics, political economy, foreign policy, and media analysis. Among his 22 published books are The Political Economy of Human Rights (2 vols, with Noam Chomsky, South End Press, 1979); Corporate Control, Corporate Power (Cambridge University Press, 1981); Manufacturing Consent (with Noam Chomsky, Pantheon, 1988); The "Terrorism" Industry (with Gerry O'Sullivan, Pantheon, 1990); The Myth of the Liberal Media: An Edward Herman Reader (Peter Lang, 1999); and with co-editor Philip Hammond, Degraded Capability: The Media and the Kosovo Crisis (Pluto, 2000).

FRIDA BERRIGAN is a Senior Research Associate with the Arms Trade Resource Center, (New York) a project of the New School University's World Policy Institute. The Arms Trade Resource Center was established in 1993 to engage in public education and policy advocacy aimed at promoting restraint in the international arms trade.

HAMZA YUSUF is the co-founder of Zaytuna Institute, which is dedicated to the revival of traditional study methods and the sciences of Islam. As one of the foremost contemporary spokespersons for Islam, he has taught and lectured extensively at various academic institutions worldwide. In addition, he has served as the principal lecturer at religious intensive seminars in the USA, England, Spain, and Morocco. He has translated several classical texts from Arabic and presently teaches at Zaytuna Institute in Hayward, California.

IBRAHIM M. ABU-RABI’ is Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary, Hartford, CT, USA; co-editor, The Muslim World, and author of Intellectual Origins of Islamic Resurgence in the Modern Arab World (SUNY, 1996) and Islamism, Arabism, Socialism, and Globalization: Studies in Post 1967 Arab Intellectual History (London: Pluto, forthcoming November 2003).

JOHN L. ESPOSITO is Professor of Religion and International Affairs and of Islamic Studies at Georgetown University. Founding Director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding: History and International Affairs in the Walsh School of Foreign Service, he has served as President of the Middle East Studies Association of North America and of the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies as well as a consultant to governments, multinational corporations, and the media. His more than 25 books include: Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam, What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam, The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?, Islam: The Straight Path, Islam and Politics, Islam and Democracy and Makers of Contemporary Islam (with John Voll), Political Islam: Radicalism, Revolution or Reform?, Iran at the Crossroads (with R.K.Ramazani), Islam, Gender and Social Change (with Yvonne Haddad), and Women in Muslim Family Law.

LOUISE CHRISTIAN is a solicitor and co-founder of Christian Fisher solicitors (now known as Christian Khan), a leading human rights firm in central London. Louise is currently acting for the families of three young men detained in Guantanamo Bay (reported case R v Foreign Secretary ex parte Juma and Abassi, Court of Appeal, Nov 2002). She is also the co-author of Inquests – A Practitioners Guide published in 2002 by the Legal Action Group.

MICHAEL RENNER is a Senior Researcher at the Worldwatch Institute, a non-profit research organization in Washington, D.C. He serves as Project Director for Vital Signs: The Trends that are Shaping Our Future, a compilation of key global trends published annually. Before joining Worldwatch in 1987, he was a Corliss Lamont Fellow in Economic Conversion at Columbia University (1986-87) and a Research Associate at the World Policy Institute in New York City (1984-86). His research and writing has focused on peace, security, and disarmament issues, in particular the linkages between environment, natural resources, and violent conflict.

MOHAMMAD HASHIM KAMALI is Professor of Law at the International Islamic University of Malaysia, where he has been teaching Islamic law and jurisprudence since 1985. He is the author of numerous works, including: Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence; Freedom of Expression in Islam; Dignity of Man in Islam; Freedom, Equality and Justice in Islam and Islamic Commercial law (all of which have been published by The Islamic Texts Society: Cambridge), as well as a number of articles in reputable international journals.

M. SHAHID ALAM is Professor of Economics at Northeastern University. He has worked in the areas of trade theory, trade policy, global economy, economic growth and corruption. His recent book, Poverty from the Wealth of Nations was published by Palgrave in 2000. More recently, his interests have grown to include civilizational issues, Islam, Eurocentrism, and translating Ghalib.

PETRONIO ESCOBAR is a Journalist, born in Brazil in 1954 from Spanish-Dutch ancestry. Pepe has lived and worked as a foreign correspondent in London, Paris, Milan, Los Angeles and Asia. He currently is the senior correspondent for Asia Times, a news analysis website based in Bangkok and Hong Kong.

ROBERT DREYFUSS has been rated by The Columbia Journalism Review, as one of the “best unsung investigative journalists working in print”.

WILLIAM BLUM left the State Department in 1967, abandoning his aspiration of becoming a Foreign Service Officer, because of his opposition to what the United States was doing in Vietnam. He then became one of the founders and editors of the Washington Free Press, the first "alternative" newspaper in the capital. In 1999, he was one of the recipients of Project Censored's awards for "exemplary journalism" for writing one of the top ten censored stories of 1998, an article on how, in the 1980s, the United States gave Iraq the material to develop a chemical and biological warfare capability. His books include: Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II; Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower; and West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir

ZAID SHAKIR accepted Islam in 1977, while serving in the United States Air Force. Upon completion of his military service, in 1981, he enrolled in The American University in Washington, DC, where he earned a BA Degree in International Relations, with honors. He subsequently obtained an MA in Political Science from Rutgers University in 1986. After spending seven years in Syria studying Arabic and Islamic Sciences, he returned to the United States in November 2001, resuming the leadership of Masjid al-Islam. He also returned to Southern Connecticut State University, where he currently teaches both Arabic and Political Science. Zaid Shakir has lectured extensively on issues related to both Islam and African American life. He has also written numerous articles, which have been published in leading Islamic and academic periodicals. He has translated three books from Arabic into English, and is considered a leading authority on Islam in the American context.