ABSTRACT
The colonial masters have gone; Muslims are free again. But the Europeans have left behind a great deal of damage. Muslim society has been turned inside out. Muslims are discovering that to be independent and rich-at least in some parts-is not to be free of difficulties. Here in Part Two, we consider some of the major problems which create concern in contemporary Muslim society, our final socio-historical category. This may be simply viewed as falling into three broad divisions: tribal, peasant-agriculturalist and urban. The taxonomy of Muslim society is neither complete nor sequential. The exercise is merely a starting point for a sociological discussion. In some important ways the first, tribal, provides us with clues to the other kinds of society. The three kinds of society interact and overlap, adding to the complexity of contemporary Muslim society. Muslim tribes, peasants or city-dwellers have one thing in common: they are not immune from the pressures of the contemporary world.
