288 Lf Recognized Power and Profit As Human Motivations of Greater Importance Than Moral Sanctions. It Was Experience Which Coun

288 BOOK REVIEWS Lf recognized power and profit as human motivations of greater importance than moral sanctions. It was experience which counted. Numbed by everyday experience, Lu craved crises such as sickness or war which could energize his moral sense and clarify choices. One is reminded of William James' call for the moral equivalent of war. In the final chapter Handlin characterizes Lu K'un's mode of self-cultivation as "fact-centered" as opposed to the "ideal-centered" mode. The fact-centered method downplayed the role of the teacher and moral authority, emphasizing instead the piecemeal evaluation of specific behavior and the use of impersonal devices such as charts and check lists to enhance moral calculation. In Handlin's view the fact-centered outlook encouraged statecraft writing while the idealcentered outlook was more likely to foster writing about metaphysics. Thus there was a striking correspondence between a particular kind of moral cultivation and the emergence of statecraft scholarship which was applicable to local government. Readers will gain many useful insights from the comparative approach which the author employs in this skillfully written and handsomely written volume. But in the conclusion, having asserted her major insight, Handlin, backs away from linking Lu's thoughts to anything more general than his own personal experience. It is too modest an ending for a book which begins by raising the reader's hope of a bold insight into a major reorientation. EDWARDL. FARMER University of Minnesota Minneapolis, U.S.A. Akbar S. Ahmed, Religion and Politics in Muslim Society: Order and Conflict in Pakistan Cambridge. Cambridge University Press, 1983, xiv, appendix, notes, bibliography, glossary, index, 215 pp. n.p. ' This is a story about Muslim society, but it is more a narrative of personal power than an examination of Islamic practices. The author, Akbar S. Ahmed, is a former CSP (Civil Service of Pakistan) officer who was posted to the South Waziristan Agency as Political Agent in 1978-80. Dr. Ahmed obtained his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the London School of Oriental and African Studies immediately before this posting, and his academic experience drove him to treat the assignment with more than the customary administrative concern. Dr. Ahmed reminds the reader of those earlier, pre-independence British administrators who served on the northwest frontier, and who combined their day to day duties with a love for scholarship. This study of tribal society in South Waziristan Agency is more than the outcome of solid field research. We are made aware that this is a presentation by a dedicated and talented scholar- anthropologist, made more insightful by his public role as Political Agent in the Agen- cy. The Political Agent is central to the law and order situation in the tribal belt. Dr. Ahmed, therefore, was an integral part of the tribal area's power structure. This brief document (the narrative portion is only 152 pages) is divided into three parts. Part one examines Waziristan, the Wazirs, and their more numerous neighbors and rivals in South Waziristan, the Mahsuds. Part two is the central focus of the study. It is a detailed analysis of how a Mullah, one Noor Mohammad, the son of a Maulvi from Bannu District, rose to prominence and systematically assumed the leadership of the Wazirs of Wana in the South Waziristan Agency between 1963 and 1977. (Dr. 289 Ahmed assumed the Political Agent position after the Mullah's demise.) Through manipulation of local custom, by exploitation of Wazir-Mahsud rivalry, and especially by organizing a market complex and erecting the most impressive mosque in the Agen- cy, the Mullah achieved notariety reserved for only exceptional personalities. Part three is a series of case studies describing how the author, as Political Agent and anthropologist, facilitated conflict resolution in a highly volatile environment, and sought to understand the contemporary significance of Muslim tribal assertiveness. At the outset, Dr. Ahmed makes several significant points. He emphasizes the manner in which Islam is exploited for political purposes. But he also demonstrates the pragmatic aspect of this exploitation, and how it is made possible by local economic power, rather than spiritual fervor. Dr. Ahmed also wishes to dispel the notion that disorder on the northwest frontier can always be reduced to demands for Pakhtunistan, i.e., the creation of an independent state for the Pakhtuns. Finally, the author raises the importance of segmentary theory in defining Muslim tribal behavior. Patrilineage, he notes, remains dominant as smaller lineage groups "nest" with larger ones to form balanced segments that are all descended from a common apical ancestor. This latter point is crucial to Dr. Ahmed's thesis. Segmentation prevents the establishment of dominant headmen in tribal Muslim society. "Members are 'cousins' and therefore equal. " (p. 144) Thus tribal society is essentially acephalous and egalitarian and political relationships are defined in relationship to tribal genealogical charter. Such understanding helps explain the rivalry between Wazirs and the Mahsuds; it also emphasizes Wazir failure to transcend administrative boundaries, drawn in another era, that divide the larger tribe into smaller fragments. Moreover, although associated with the larger Wazir configuration, out-Agency Wazirs did not answer the call of their brethren when they and their Mullah were assaulted by forces under the leadership of the central government in Islamabad. The power of the Mullah was significant, but it was also confined to the South Waziristan Agency. It grew out of the local market which he had built and dominated. Other Wazirs, such as the Utman- zai, acknowledged the Mullah's role in rallying the larger tribe against the Mahsud, but they were limited by district frontiers and by their particular segmentary order from assisting their brother Wazirs. Nevertheless, the Mullah's power of oratory, his charismatic demeanor, his organizational skills, and his knowledge of tribal relationships and social behavior, had earned him the most respected place among the Wazir tribes of the South Waziristan Agency. Moreover, that place rested on an Islamic foun- dation, from which all authority was believed to flow. "Among the Wazirs the Mullah's authority was total and mesmeric in both the temporal and religious realms. He would not lead the Wazirs to the promised land but bring the promised land to the Wazirs. " (p. 70) The Mullah virtually "controlled" affairs in the region. "Truly, he was the un- crowned king ... " The government in Islamabad had reason to be disturbed by this display of charismatic leadership, as well as the Mullah's unconcealed desire for broader influence. Thus, given increasing defiance of its authority and threats against the life of the Political Agent, and perhaps more important, a fear of spreading Mahsud-Wazir antagonism, the Islamabad government ordered its loyal forces in the Agency to crush the Mullah's legions and to destroy his economic base. In so doing, the Islamabad government encouraged Mahsud dominance in the region. After a violent encounter that cost many dead and wounded, the Mullah was forced to flee. Later apprehended and tried under the Frontier Crimes Regulation, the Mullah was sentenced to ten years "rigorous imprisonment," his property was confiscated, and his .

Load more