Taking the perspective of anthropologist Clifford Geertz, Tibi re-approaches the problem of social change in Islam, arguing that religions represent cultural systems that both influence and are influenced by religion.
Preface to the U.S. Edition -- Introduction -- What Does the Notion of
Cultural Accommodation of Social Change in Islam Mean? On the Relationship
Between Religion and Culture -- Religion as a Model for Reality and the
Interaction Between the Two: Islam as a Cultural System -- What is Islam?
Islam in the Past and Present -- CultureA Catalyst of Change, a Reflection
of Change, or a Stumbling Block? Ascertaining the Position of Islam -- Basic
Cultural Patterns for the Perception of Change in Islam: The Islamic Model
for Reality1 -- Culture and Social Change: Is Underdevelopment a Given of
Cultural Tradition? The Problem of Cultural Innovation in Sociology -- Social
Change and the Resistance of the Islamic Sociocultural System: Law, Language,
and the Educational System -- Social Change and the Potential for Flexibility
in the Islamic Notion of Law: The Shari'a as an "Open Texture," Legal
Hermeneutics, and the Topics Thesis -- 'Arabiyya as a Sacred Language: Arabic
as a Language Between Koranic and Historical Designations -- Institutions of
Learning and Education in Islam: Their Historical Contribution to the
Cultural Accommodation of Change and Their Current State of Crisis -- The
Politicization of Islam as a Cultural System and the Topicality of Islamic
Revivalism: Islam Today -- A Religiosociological Interpretation of the
Politicization of the Islamic Cultural System: Political Islam as a Defensive
Cultural Reaction to Rapid Social Change1 -- Oppositional Religiopolitical
Underground Organizations and the Islam-legitimated Establishment in Egypt:
The Roots of the Political Resurgence of Militant Islam -- The Iranian
Shi'ite Variant of Religiopolitical Revivalism: The Mullah Revolution in Iran
-- Islam as Legitimation for "Royal Authority": On the Relationship Between
State, Religion, and Politics in the Islam-legitimated Monarchies of Morocco
and Saudi Arabia1 -- Conclusions and Future Prospects: Asymmetries in the
International Society, "Demonstration Effects," and Globalized Intercultural
Communication as the Structural Framework for Rapid Social Change in the
Islamic Middle East