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Preface
Prof. Martin van Bruinessen, of the
International Institute for the Study of
Islam in the Modern World (ISIM),
Utrecht University, Netherlands, has
this to say of the author and the book:
Farish Noor’s quick wit and a sharp pen
are known to most observers of the
Malaysian scene through his regular
commentaries on current affairs. In this
work of longer breath, he shows himself
skillful at sustained historical and
social analysis of the country’s major
opposition party PAS. Farish’s richly
documented historical chapters relate
the shift in PAS’s counter-hegemonic
discourse and practice – passing through
leftists and Malay communalist phases to
various styles of Islamism – to the
wider political context, both national
and international. This is without a
doubt the best study of PAS that has
appeared to date, and at the same time a
social and political history of
independent Malaysia seen from the
margins. ISLAM EMBEDDED is essential
reading not only for those who wish to
understand Malaysian politics, but also
for students of religio-political
movements in the Muslim World today,
comparable to the Egyptian Muslim
Brotherhood, Pakistan’s Jama’at-e-Islami
and Turkey’s succession of Islamist
parties but with a history and a
character of its own. This book deserves
a place beside the best studies of those
better known movements.’
Malaysian Political Scientist and Human
Rights Activist Dr. Chandra Muzaffar,
who is also President of the
International Movement for a Just World
(JUST) has aptly put it this way:
‘Farish Noor has written the right book
at the right time. ISLAM EMBEDDED is a
book that anyone who is interested in
the future of Malaysian Politics should
read. In it the nature of PAS’s
challenge to UMNO rule and to the
Malaysian polity as it is presently
constituted is analyzed in depth. The
book is a masterly exposition of why PAS
remains a powerful force in
multi-religious Malaysia.’
Prof. Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, Director,
Institute of the Malay World &
Civilization, National University of
Malaysia (UKM), has summed up his
thoughts thus:
‘Farish A. Noor has set a benchmark
against which future writings in
Malaysian Islam shall be judged. ISLAM
EMBEDDED talks of things that other
scholars had not been able to formulate
with such clarity. Like many important
books it says for the first time what
one had always wanted to say. This book,
by Malaysia’s most prolific informed
commentator and analyst on Malaysian
Islam, will be of great value to all who
are interested in modern Malaysian
political history, in particular, and on
political Islam in general. One wonders
how many books, after this would get
such a favourable verdict.’
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