September 11 provided a vision and a strategy to a US Presidency that until then had been groping for fresh ideas and a relevant foreign policy. The “global war on terror†now became an article of faith for the United States. The US Government, media and think-tanks turned their attention to Islam, the Arab world and Saudi Arabia, and held them responsible for the catastrophe unleashed upon the Americans. Reform of religion, of politics and economics, of education, and of cultural and religious life thus became the new buzz-word. This new focus on “reformâ€, whatever the motivation of its protagonists, had the effect of igniting a reform – related debate across the Arab world. Academics, journalists, businessmen and political figures, and, frequently government leaders, all of them participated in this resounding cacophony for reform, discussing issues of political, economic, social, religious and cultural change with unprecedented freedom. The discussion about reform is still in full flow, yielding in its wake some satisfaction that debates are underway that will decide the destiny of the Arab person. This monograph provides an account of this extraordinary intellectual ferment in the Arab world and the attempts of governments, Arab and foreign, to cope politically and intellectually with these new challenges.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Talmiz Ahmad
Born in 1951, Talmiz Ahmad obtained his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in History from the University of Pune. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1974. During the last 30 years, he has acquired a special interest in the countries of the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula, having been posted early in his career in Kuwait, Baghdad and Sana'a, and later as Consul General in Jeddah. He has also been posted at the Indian Consulate General in New York (1984-87); as Minister (Press and Information) in the Indian High Commission in London (1991-94), and as Deputy High Commissioner in Pretoria, South Africa (1994-97). After having been the Official Spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs in 1997, Ahmad served as Joint Secretary (Gulf/Haj) in the Ministry of External Affairs between 1998-2000. He was appointed the Ambassador of India to Saudi Arabia in 2000, and served there for three and a half years, after which he became the Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman in July 2003. He returned to the Ministry of External Affairs as Additional Secretary in October 2004. In April 2005, he joined the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas as Additional Secretary responsible for International cooperation. Talmiz Ahmad has a special interest in Islamic affairs and the politics of West Asia. His paper on political Islam, titled: The Cry from the Heart of the Believer, was published in the South African Journal of International Affairs in June 1997. He has published a monograph titled: An Introduction to Contemporary Islamic Groups and Movements in India. He regularly lectures on political developments in the Middle East and on energy issues, and reviews books on foreign affairs in the Indian press.
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