The State and Religion in Contemporary Islam : Middle Eastern States in Transition and the Resurgence of the Transnational Ummah(<Special Issue>State and Religion)

Abstract

After a long tradition of "non-dualism of state and religion" in the Islamic world - with peculiar ideas of state, religion, and state-religion relationships - Islamic countries in general and Middle Eastern states in particular accepted the nation-state system through colonization and later independence. In the Arab states, however, the nation-state did not take firm roots. Arab nationalism utilized the concept of ummah to address the Arab nation, aiming at the unification of Arab lands. Because of this, the subsequent decline of Arab nationalism and the ascent of Islamic revivalism brought back the Islamic Ummah as a transnational force in the political map of the region. Globalization only accelerated the process by facilitating a globalized Islam. The Islamic Revolution in Iran, the re-Islamization of Saudi Arabia, and the appearance of armed non-governmental organizations such al-Qaeda and the "Islamic State" in Iraq and Syria have been transforming the state, religion, and state-religion relationships in the region.