The Iranian Revolution has catalysed the preconceptions holding sway in the Western World about the character of Islam and its politics, based as they are on a mixture of imagined cultural superiority and a latent fear of a resurgence similar to the Arab conquests of the seventh and eighth centuries of the long Ottoman domination of Eastern Europe. This book constitutes a counterweight to such monolithic perceptions of Islam. It surveys the nature of opinion and of government in the larger Muslim regions of the world, and the position of Muslims in states where they are not the dominant population.

Preface; Chapter 1 Introduction: The Myth of the Monolith, Mohammed Ayoob; Part 1 The Arab Heartland; Chapter 2 Saudi Arabia, Ronald R. MacIntyre; Chapter 3 Egypt, Syria and Iraq, Robert Springborg; Part 2 The Arab Periphery; Chapter 4 North Africa, K.R. Singh; Part 3 Non-Arab West Asia; Chapter 5 Turkey, T.B. Millar; Chapter 6 Iran, Kambiz Afrachteh; Chapter 7 Afghanistan, Beverley M. Male; Chapter 8 Pakistan, William L. Richter; Part 4 Southeast Asia; Chapter 9 Malaysia, John Funston; Chapter 10 Indonesia, Harold Crouch; Part 5 The Minorities; Chapter 11 The Philippines, R.J. May; Chapter 12 Thailand, Astri Suhrke; Chapter 13 The Soviet Union, Geoffrey Jukes; Chapter 14 Conclusion: The Discernible Patterns, Mohammed Ayoob;