Informed Comment: "The Muslim fundamentalists use a provision of Islamic law called 'bringing to account' (hisba). As Al-Ahram weekly notes, 'Hisba signifies a case filed by an individual on behalf of society when the plaintiff feels that great harm has been done to religion.' Hisba is a medieval idea that had all be lapsed when the fundamentalists brought it back in the 1970s and 1980s."