Knowledge and Power in Muslim Societies
Approaches in Intellectual History
Edited by Kazuo Morimoto Edited by Sajjad Rizvi
The study of Islam and of Islamic history is enjoying something of a revival with an emphasis on intellectual history. There are noticeable differences of approach in the various chapters presented here, but what brings them together is a careful study of texts as forms of speech acts
The study of Islam and of Islamic history is enjoying something of a revival with an emphasis on intellectual history and a greater concern with the ‘subaltern’ with that. Why does religion continue to hold significance in our times? Are humans better off, adaptable, less violent, consistently unpredictable? How can we understand the course of our political history and the seeming dominance of democracy and its discontents, not least the legacies of coloniality and empire? While nationalist historiographies prevail in many contexts as well as Marxist and other approaches, the trend seems to be towards connected histories, the transnational and the global. Much of this constitutes intellectual history, which as one leading expert puts it, “seeks to restore a lost world, to recover perspectives and ideas from the ruins, to pull back the veil, and explain why the ideas resonated in the past and convinced their advocates.” (Richard Whatmore) Ideas are expressive of cultures and norms, practices and dispositions, of actions and events that lie at the very core of human experience such as sovereignty and power, mind and matter, profanity and spirituality. There are noticeable differences of approach in the various chapters presented but what brings them together is a careful study of texts, not in a reductively philological manner derided quite often these days but in the way in which we recognise that texts are forms of speech acts and lie alongside other forms of self-expression that can elucidate and illuminate as well as occlude.
Foreword Ian Richard Netton Introduction: Diversifying the Intellectual History of Islam and Muslim Cultures Sajjad Rizvi and Kazuo Morimoto PHILOSOPHY 1. Three Portraits of a Philosopher in Islamic Cultures Sajjad Rizvi 2. Philosophy for Politics: Ancient Greek Philosophy Echoed in Ibn al-Muqaffa's Writings Istvan T. Kristo-Nagy 3. The Sorcerer Scholar: Siraj al-Din al-Sakkaki between Grammar and Grimoire Emily Selove and Mohammed Sanad 4. Knowledge for All: Zayn al-Din al-Kassi (d. before 1228) on Philosophical Writing Hisashi Obuchi 5. Cancelling the Apocalypse: Refracted Anticipation for the Awaited Mahdi in Sayyid Muhammad al-Musha'sha's Discourse Tetsuro Sumida SCHOLARLY PRODUCTION 6. Didactic Discourse and Sarcastic Expressions in the Context of Abu Hilal al-'Askari's Literary Criticism Mohammed Sanad 7. Writing the Imams' Virtues under the Interconfessional Policy of al-Nasir li-Din Allah: Ibn al-Bitriq al-Hilli and His Fada'il Works Ryo Mizukami 8. A Ja'farid-Zaynabid Genealogy from Thirteenth-Century Egypt: 'Urban Uprising, Najafi Connection, and the Representation of the Twelve Imams Kazuo Morimoto 9. 'Ilm al-Siyaq and Bureaucrats in Safavid Iran Nobuaki Kondo 10. Ma Dexins' Criticism of Saint Veneration: "Chinese"-Flavored Islam Formed by a Denominational Conflict Tatsuya Nakanishi THE MAKING OF THE MODERN 11. The Politics of the Bay'a Ceremony in Modern Morocco Nozomi Shiratani 12. The Tawhid of the Painting of God the Mother William Gallois 13. Teaching Iranian History: Narrative Style and Messages Keiko Sakurai 14. Inscribing "God's Words" in Japan: Connecting the Past to the Present through the Translations of the Qur'an Emi Goto Postscript Shigeru Kamada About the Contributors
- Edited by Kazuo Morimoto
- Edited by Sajjad Rizvi
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