Muhammad Yaseen Gadda

To write about the political dimensions of Islam is, indeed, to examine the universal phenomenon of Islam and politics as it happens to be expressed in the modern Muslim world; because the multiple aspects of politics in Islam continue to reveal themselves in more multifaceted ways. Though there would seem to have been little need to have more encyclopedias after the unveiling of the comprehensive six volumes, the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World (OEMIW) by John. L. Esposito—to which the encyclopedia under review is, but a supplement; the Princeton encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought by Gerhard Bowering et al.; besides the more recent handbook, the Oxford Handbook of Islam and Politics by John L. Esposito and Emad El-Din Shahin. However, as I have pointed out in the opening lines about the dynamic and complex role of the politics in Islam, particularly in the contemporary Muslim world, need has been felt to offer an in-depth authoritative and comprehensive reference work in separate volumes primarily on the political dimensions of Islam. Furthermore, due to the dynamic changes—the Arab Spring, toppling of autocratic regimes, rise of Islamic parties to power, etc—the Muslim world experiences in recent years, have again reasserted the role of Islam in politics as a main catalyst for such dynamic change, resistance, liberation, and reassertion of identity and governance.