The book focuses not on Islam from its founding, or on historical Islam, but on Islam of the last two hundred years, from the early 19th century when Western imperialism forced an encounter with modernity for which Islam was ill prepared. Yet, in Allawi's judgment, given the three power blocks confronting Islam - namely, the United States, a mercantilist China, and an expanding European Union - Muslim countries may have to forge a power bloc unique to themselves in the financial arena to bypass the Bretton Woods institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
展开▼
