ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. Reconstructing the history of Islamic politics from the community of the Prophet Muhammad to the present often leads to assuming an immutable continuity in the political and religious history of Islam. Essentialist approaches tend to see Islamic societies not as socially constructed historical products, but as the different phases of a unique and coherent Islamic project that starts from the Prophet Muhammad onward. Islamic history is presented as a sort of literary novel, where Islam plays the role of the major character. The book presents a research, which identifies a relationship between the development of contemporary Islamism and the emergence of new educated middle classes. The research focuses on the Muslim Brotherhood, whose role is seen as pivotal in the development of contemporary Islamism in Jordan.
