The Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements, published in Brill’s Handbooks of Contemporary Religions series,offers a rich collection of 33 essays on movements in contemporary Islam. Upal, a cognitive scientist of religion at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, and Cusack, a historian of religion at the University of Sydney who focuses on contemporary trends, serve as the volume’s editors.
They emphasize a wish to counter any suggestion that Islam is “a static, monolithic religion that clings fiercely to its seventh-century roots.” They expect readers to “grasp the full extent of the diverse thought that exists under the name of Islam,” and they point to Islam’s own expectation of sectarianism by referencing the Hadith that declares the existence of 73 Islamic sects—only one of which is true, the others hell-bound.
The editors divide Islamic sects and movements into five categories: non-violent Sunni movements (Tablighi Jama’at, the Muslim Brotherhood, Gülenists, Islam Nusantara, Nahdlatul Ulama); Shi‘a and Shi‘a-related movements (Twelvers, Zaydis, Ismai’ilis, Da’udi Bohras, Alevis, ‘Alawis, and the Iranian Hey’ati movement); violent movements, mostly Sunni (Salafis, Taliban, Hamas, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Boko Haram, Hezbollah, Russian Islamic sects, and Takfirism); various Sufi orders and movements; and movements most Muslims consider deviant (Ahmadiyya, the Nation of Islam, and the Moorish Science Temple of America), along with religions that emerged out of Islam (Druze, Yezidis, and Baha’is).
In the aggregate, the book’s authors show that Sunni movements arose from the worldwide Islamic Awakening of the past two centuries, whereas most Shi’a movements derive from centuries-old divisions and controversies.
Admirably, the authors avoid the extremes of either exaggerating or downplaying the contribution of religious ideology to Islamic violence. Instead, they adopt a realistic and grounded approach. For example, Shaul Bartal’s chapter on Hamas clearly and fairly describes Hamas’s theologically-driven aspiration to eliminate Israel.
The Handbook provides a series of introductory yet in-depth essays on Islamic sects and movements, opening up major topics for non-specialist readers. Its chapters achieve admirable clarity and coverage. This valuable resource should be the standard introduction for years to come; however, it is not a go-to source of detailed information for the specialist.
