The Sharia State

Set against the backdrop of the Arab Spring, The Sharia State examines the Islamist concept of political order. This order is based on a new interpretation of sharia and has been dubbed "the Islamic state" by Islamists. The concept of "the Islamic state," has been elevated to a political agenda and it is this agenda that is examined here.

In contrast to the prevailing view which sees the Arab Spring as a revolution, this book argues that the phenomenon has been neither a Spring, nor a revolution. The term 'Arab Spring,' connotes a just rebellion that led to toppling dictators and authoritarian rulers, yet in The Sharia State, Bassam Tibi challenges the unchecked assumption that the seizure of leadership by Islamists is a part of the democratization of the Middle East.

Providing a new perspective on the relationship between the Arab Spring and democratization, this book is an essential read for students and scholars of Middle Eastern Studies, Islamic Studies and Politics.

Introduction 1 The Shari'a- State and Western Scholarship:  The Reality of an Islamist Shari'atization of Politics  that seeks a name 2 The Shari'a-State is not the Faith of Islam: Shari'a and Politics 3 The  Challenge of the Islamist Shari'a-State to the International Order: Torn  Between the Westphalian Synthesis, Pax Americana and Pax Islamica 4 Shari'a and Islamism in the Arab Spring: From the Promise of a Blossoming Spring to a Frosty and Lethal Winter 5 From Traditional Shari'a Reasoning to the Islamist Shari'atization in Post-Arab Spring 6 Torn Between Combating Prejudice and the Accusation of Islamophobia: The Shari'a-State and Policing Speech in the Debate on Whither Islamic Civilization.