"The medieval theory of the caliphate, epitomized by the Abbasids (750-1258), was the construct of jurists who conceived it as a contractual leadership of the Muslim community in succession to the Prophet Muhammed's political authority. In this book, Huseyin Yilmaz traces how a …
"In this notable work, Souad T. Ali examines the seminal writings of Egyptian reformist scholar Ali 'Abd al-Raziq, often regarded as the intellectual father of Islamic secularism, and his controversial argument that the caliphate should be considered a human innovation, rather t…
Describing the Islamic State's ideologues as 'entrepreneurs of identity', this book explores how the group defined categories of social identity and used them as tools of communicative and cognitive structuring. Based on a wide dossier of original texts, speeches, images, and vi…
While in the West 'the Caliphate" evokes overwhelmingly negative images, throughout Islamic history it has been regarded as the ideal Islamic polity. In the wake of the "Arab Spring" and the removal of long-standing dictators in the Middle East, in which the dominant discourse a…
A global history, Longing for the Lost Caliphate delves into why the caliphate has been so important to Muslims in vastly different eras and places. This book explores the myriad meanings of the caliphate for Muslims around the world through the analytical lens of two key moment…
Sayyid focuses on how demands for Muslim autonomy are debated in terms of democracy, cultural relativism, secularism and liberalism. He goes on to analyse the evasions by which the decolonization of the Muslim world continues to be deferred, before exploring attempts to speed up…
Sayyid focuses on how demands for Muslim autonomy are debated in terms of democracy, cultural relativism, secularism and liberalism. He goes on to analyse the evasions by which the decolonization of the Muslim world continues to be deferred, before exploring attempts to speed up…
As late as the last quarter of the twentieth century, there were expectations that Islam's political and cultural influence would dissipate as the advance of westernization brought modernization and secularization in its wake. Not only has Islam failed to follow the trajectory p…