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This chapter takes up the story of identity from an Islamic perspective. In a historically informed account, it shows how Islam has interacted with the domestic, regional, and international politics of the region and how its influence has ebbed and flowed alongside different currents in regional and international relations. The chapter also considers globalization as a facilitator of transnational Islam, but by no means a force for union. The chapter discusses the substantive presence of religion in the foreign policies of the Middle Eastern states, including those which are more overtly Islamic, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. It investigates the popular uprisings in the Arab world which created new opportunities and challenges for the Islamic movement, and which continue to affect states’ foreign policies notably through the phenomenon of sectarianization.

This chapter addresses the role of Islam in the international relations in the Middle East. In a historically informed account, it shows how Islam has interacted with the domestic, regional, and international politics of the region in a variety of forms. Its influence, however, has ebbed and flowed alongside different currents in regional and international relations. In this regard, globalization has been a facilitator of transnational Islam, but by no means a force for union. Notwithstanding its evident importance, there has been little substantive presence of religion in the foreign policies of Middle Eastern states, even in those more overtly Islamic ones such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. However, the popular uprisings in the Arab world created new opportunities and challenges for the Islamic movement, which continue to affect states' foreign policies notably through the phenomenon of ‘sectarianization’.