This book is a study of political thought in Islam from the viewpoint of the history of ideas and the relevance of these ideas to contemporary Arabic political discourse. The author examines the use of the classical Islamic tradition (turath) and its religious and philosophical components by the three dominant Arabic political discourses: the Islamists, apologists and intellectuals. The book analyzes the different assumptions advanced by these discourses and the way they propose to apply or restore the turath in the present. Exploring connections between the medieval Islamic tradition and current debates, this book is essential reading for advanced students and researchers of Islam and political thought.

Nelly Lahoud completed her PhD in 2002 at the Australian National University. In 2003 she was a post-doctoral researcher at St John's College, University of Cambridge and now teaches political theory at Goucher College, USA. She has been awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship in Islamic Studies at the Library of Congress and is the co-editor of Islam in World Politics (RoutledgeCurzon, 2005).