The emergence of contemporary political Islam, or “Islamism”,1 from the late 1970s onwards, has confronted the Left with an enormous challenge. While standing in opposition to secularism and women’s rights, Islamist movements in the Middle East have coopted standard left-wing causes, such as resistance to the state and foreign intervention. In doing so, contemporary Islamism has gained the allegiance of vast swathes of the population in Muslim-majority countries, whose socioeconomic position would, under other circumstances, dictate a left-wing orientation.