ABSTRACT
Since the appearance of Islam in the Middle East and the Islamic revolutionary movements that swept through three continents and created new sociopolitical formations in many Muslim countries, the relation between Islam and political systems has been widely discussed and debated. Prior to the modernization movements and the entrance of European powers on the political scene of Islamic countries, Islamic formations, such as the Arabic Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire, created relatively long-standing socio-economic and political stability in the Middle East. This stability was to a great deal based on the existence of a relatively well-organized civil society with powerful groups, namely ulama and bazaris, and the established relationships between civil society and the state that were legally, religiously and normatively legitimized. The huge internal market, mainly controlled by the bazaris, and the web of relationships between bazaars made a suitable ground for increasing contacts, exchange of commodities and services, as well as internal migration in the Islamic empires, including Egypt. Bazaars were not only engaged in internal exchange, but also in contacts with foreign merchants, including Chinese, Indians and Italians, to mention a few. Many people were on the move and in contact with others in other parts of the Ottoman and the Persian empires and developed a cosmopolitan worldview necessary for the economic activities of the bazaars. In addition, the political doctrines and systems had to have cosmopolitan characteristics in order to manage the substantial ethnic and religious diversities of those empires.
