1. Introduction; 2. Rethinking consensus; 3. The language of Ijtihad; 4. Contestations on the common good; 5. Bridging traditions: madrasas and their internal critics; 6. Women, law, and society; 7. Socioeconomic justice; 8. Denouncing violence: the ambiguities of a discourse; 9. Epilogue: the paradoxes of internal criticism.
This book explores some of the most fiercely debated issues facing the Islamic world today.
Muhammad Qasim Zaman is Robert H. Niehaus '77 Professor of Near Eastern Studies and Religion at Princeton University, New Jersey. He is the author of Religion and Politics under the Early Abbasids and The Ulama in Contemporary Islam, among other works.
'For those seeking to understand debates among Muslim scholars on
contemporary political and social issues, I could hardly think of a
more profound study than this one. Few scholars have the depth and
reach to accomplish what Zaman does here, which is nothing less
than a socio-history of modern Islamic thought. [He] returns again
and again to the formative debates of the late nineteenth century
to discuss a wide range of issues. A tour de force.' John R. Bowen,
Dunbar-Van Cleve Professor, Washington University, St Louis, and
author of A New Anthropology of Islam
'Drawing on rich and diverse materials from debates on some of the
most controversial issues facing Muslim communities in the Middle
East and South Asia, Zaman explores the ambiguities both within and
beyond lines of internal critique to provide nuanced insight into
the construction, maintenance, and reconfiguration of religious
authority. This is an important book for anyone interested in Islam
and Muslim societies in the modern era.' R. Michael Feener, Asia
Research Institute, National University of Singapore
'With great insight and erudition, Zaman opens a new window onto
the ways in which the heirs of the pre-modern Muslim scholarly
tradition think, rethink, and argue about contentious issues in the
modern world, some of them wielding a soft power that few of their
counterparts in the Western academy can emulate.' Michael Cook,
Princeton University
'Few books will shape the subfield of Islamic studies in the manner
that Muhammad Qasim Zaman's refreshing interpretation of
traditional religious thought in the modern period promises to do …
Inspired by Zaman's example, future scholarship dedicated to
Islamic law and society will render the field a great service by
also taking the hermeneutical battles to some of the narratives
generated by macro-political and economic conditions that impact
Muslim practices and ideas.' Ebrahim Moosa, Journal of the American
Academy of Religion
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