Identifies and traces the evolution of a forgotten ampampquotrealistampampquot tradition in medieval Islamic political thought and considers the prospects for its revival in the context of the contemporary Middle East.Now all but forgotten there exists within medieval Islamic political thought a coherent ampampquotrealistampampquot tradition analogous to its Western counterpart. In The Art of Jihad Malik Mufti begins by analyzing contemporary debates on jihad designed to highlight the lacuna occupied by realism in other cultures. He explicates the features of medieval Islamic realism those it shares with realism everywherea focus on power for example or the ubiquity of human conflictbut also those features that are distinctive its insistence on the political centrality of religion its rejection of scientific certainty its valorization of hierarchy and its adherence to empire as the optimal ethicopolitical framework.