The Sunni Tragedy in the Middle East

A reviewer of Western scholarship on Lebanon notes that there is not much interest in the Sunni Muslim Lebanese, especially when compared to the interest in the Lebanese Shiites. Looking at a list of publications under Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics, one finds three books on the Shiites of Lebanon: An Enchanted Modern: Gender and Public Piety in Shi’i Lebanon; Hezbollah: A Short History; and Leisurely Islam: Negotiating Geography and Morality in Shi’ite South Lebanon. Two of these books clearly help humanize the Lebanese Shiites by providing a nuanced presentation that goes beyond the traditional focus on Shiite militancy and political violence. Even Augustus Richard Norton’s book on Hizbullah is nuanced, and one can fairly say, is a sympathetic/empathetic work on the Shiite Lebanese and the radical movement itself. Recently, there has been increased interest in the study of the Lebanese Sunnis. However, this interest is limited to Sunni Lebanese “radicalization,” in reality a limited phenomenon by any measure. One is hard-pressed to find Western scholarly interest in Lebanese Sunnis that is not security minded. This book by Rougier, an established scholar who knows Lebanon well, is a security/terrorism-oriented study of the Lebanese Sunni community.

Ancient history · Islam · Middle East · Morality · Piety · Political science · Politics · Radicalization · Scholarship · Social science · Sociology · Terrorism · Theology · Tragedy (event) · History · Islamic Studies and History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Middle East Politics and Society · Philosophy · Religious studies