Book Manuscript

Weaponizing Tolerance: Security & Moderate Islam in the Arab Monarchies

What effects are produced by state-led efforts to control Islam? The post 9/11 context has witnessed the expansion of state control over the religious sphere across the Middle East, justified by the need to prevent violent extremism. Arab regimes blame a misinterpretation of Islam for violence, and claim to promote religious toleration; Arab monarchs in particular rely on claims of religious heritage to assert their authority to speak for Islam. Non-Muslim international audiences tend to uncritically accept narratives linking Islam and violence, and ignore regime abuses of political Islamists as justified by security concerns. Arab populations resent the scapegoating of Islam, but the majority also wish for the state to produce and regulate religious content. Religious bureaucrats—the individuals charged with disseminating official religious discourse—must uphold the agenda of regime elites while trying to maintain the credibility of their institutions.

Variation in the credibility of state-sponsored religious discourse is the result of perceived authenticity: when both domestic and international audiences experience official religious rhetoric as reflecting long-standing heritage, they are less likely to view it as a political strategy. The findings demonstrate that state-led control of religious messaging is a long-term project ill-suited to short-term political goals. Arab regimes are often primarily motivated by the desire to establish a reputation for peaceful heritage—a valuable commodity from a soft power perspective—rather than address the underlying political and economic factors that can contribute to political violence.

Fieldwork: Findings are based on interview data with over 200 religious bureaucrats, educators, experts, students, and members of Islamist groups, as well as over 1000 media and government documents collected during ten months of fieldwork in Jordan, Oman, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia.

Support: I gratefully acknowledge the support of the Boren Fellowship, the Project on Middle East Political Science, the Foreign Language and Area Studies program, the Loeb Institute for Religious Freedom, the Baker Institute for Public Policy, the Boniuk Institute for Religious Tolerance, and the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies.

Academic Writing

“Evaluating the Resonance of Official Islam in Oman, Jordan, and Morocco,” Religions. 12, no. 145 (February 2021): 45-64.

“Shifting Definitions of Moderation: Evidence from Qatar, Jordan, and Morocco,” Middle East Law & Governance. 12 (May 2020): 109-129.

“Constructing an Islamic Nation: National Mosque Building as a Form of Nation-building,” Nationalities Papers, 47, no. 1 (2019): 104-120.

Review of “Zakir Hussain. Saudi Arabia in a Multi-Polar World: Changing Dynamics. New York: Routledge Publishers, 2016.” Journal of International and Global Studies. 8, no. 2 (2017): 18-19.

Select Book Chapters

“The Intersection of U.S. National Security Policy and the Politics of Moderate Islam.” Peter Mandaville (ed.) The Geopolitics of Religious Soft Power: How States Use Religion in Foreign Policy. NY: Oxford University Press, 2023.

“Ibadism and the Tradition of Tolerance in Oman.” Abdulrahman Al Salimi, Reinhard Eisener (eds.) Oman, Ibadism and Modernity: Studies on Ibadism and Oman, vol 12. Hildesheim: Olms Weidmann, 2018.

Select Reports

“2023 Country Report on Human Rights Practices: Morocco.” Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State.

“2023 Country Report on Human Rights Practices: Tunisia.” Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State.

“2023 Country Report on Human Rights Practices: Qatar.” Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State.