000 03631cam a2200301 i 4500
001 908084083
003 OCoLC
005 20250718111517.0
008 150810t20162016njua b 001 0 eng
020 _a9780691164182
040 _cKOCy
082 0 4 _a306.697
_223
100 1 _aAhmed, Shahab,
_d1966-2015
245 1 0 _aWhat is Islam? :
_bthe importance of being Islamic /
_cby Shahab Ahmed.
264 1 _aPrinceton ;
_aOxford :
_bPrinceton University Press,
_c[2016]
300 _axvii, 609 pages :
_billustrations ;
_c25 cm
336 _atext
_btxt
_2rdacontent
337 _aunmediated
_bn
_2rdamedia
338 _avolume
_bnc
_2rdacarrier
504 _aIncludes bibliographical references and index
505 0 0 _gPart one.
_tQuestions.
_tWhat is Islam? ;
_gChapter 1.
_tSix Questions about Islam --
_gPart two.
_tConceptualizations.
_gChapter 2.
_tIslam as Law, islams-not-Islam, Islamic and Islamicate, Religion and Culture, Culture and Civilization ;
_gChapter 3.
_tReligion and Secular, Sacred and Profane, Theocentric and Anthropocentric, Total Social Fact, Family Resemblance ;
_gChapter 4.
_tCulture, Meaning, Symbol System, Core and Nucleus, Whatever-Muslims-Say-It-Is, Discursive Tradition, Orthodoxy, Process --
_gPart three.
_tRe-Conceptualizations.
_gChapter 5.
_tHermeneutical Engagement, Pre-Text, Text, and Con-Text, Meaning-Making for the Self, Spatiality of Revelation, Hierarchy, Exteriority-Interiority, Public and Private, Language and Vocabulary, Ambivalence and Ambiguity, Metaphor and Paradox ;
_gChapter 6.
_tApplications and Implications : Coherent Contradiction, Exploration, Diffusion, Form and Meaning, Modern ;
_tThe Importance of Being Islamic
508 _aJacket image © Heritage Auctions
520 _a"A book that is certain to provoke debate and significantly alter our understanding of Islam, [this work] reveals how Muslims have historically conceived of and lived with Islam as norms and truths that are at once contradictory yet coherent"--Front jacket flap
520 _a"What is Islam? How do we grasp a human and historical phenomenon characterized by such variety and contradiction? What is "Islamic" about Islamic philosophy or Islamic art? Should we speak of Islam or of islams? Should we distinguish the Islamic (the religious) from the Islamicate (the cultural)? Or should we abandon "Islamic" altogether as an analytical term? In What Is Islam?, Shahab Ahmed presents a bold new conceptualization of Islam that challenges dominant understandings grounded in the categories of "religion" and "culture" or those that privilege law and scripture. He argues that these modes of thinking obstruct us from understanding Islam, distorting it, diminishing it, and rendering it incoherent. What Is Islam? formulates a new conceptual language for analyzing Islam. It presents a new paradigm of how Muslims have historically understood divine revelation--one that enables us to understand how and why Muslims through history have embraced values such as exploration, ambiguity, aestheticization, polyvalence, and relativism, as well as practices such as figural art, music, and even wine drinking as Islamic. It also puts forward a new understanding of the historical constitution of Islamic law and its relationship to philosophical ethics and political theory. A book that is certain to provoke debate and significantly alter our understanding of Islam, What Is Islam? reveals how Muslims have historically conceived of and lived with Islam as norms and truths that are at once contradictory yet coherent."--Publisher's description
546 _aEnglish.
650 0 _aIslam
942 _2ddc
_cBK
_n0
999 _c66168
_d66168