The politics of knowledge in premodern Islam : negotiating ideology and religious inquiry / Omid Safi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Safi, Omid, 1970-

Series:

Islamic civilization & Muslim networks

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Seljuks--History.

Seljuks.

History.

Islamic Empire--Politics and government.

Islamic Empire.

Politics and government.

Physical Description:

liii, 292 pages : illustrations, maps. ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill, N.C. : University of North Carolina Press, 2006.

Summary:

The eleventh and twelfth centuries comprised a period of great significance in Islamic history. The Great Saljuqs, a Turkish-speaking tribe hailing from Central Asia, ruled the eastern half of the Islamic world for a great portion of that time. In a far-reaching analysis that combines social, cultural, and political history, Omid Safi demonstrates how the Saljuqs tried to create a lasting political presence by joining forces with scholars and saints, among them a number of well-known Sufi Muslims, who functioned under state patronage.

In order to legitimize their political power, Saljuq rulers presented themselves as champions of what they alleged was an orthodox and normative view of Islam. Their notion of religious orthodoxy was constructed by administrators in state-sponsored arenas such as madrasas and khanaqahs. Thus orthodoxy was linked to political loyalty, and disloyalty to the state was articulated in terms of religious heresy.

Drawing on a vast reservoir of primary sources and eschewing anachronistic terms of analysis such as nationalism, Safi revises conventional views both of the Saljuqs as benevolent Muslim rulers and of the Sufis as timeless, ethereal mystics. He makes a significant contribution to understanding premodern Islam as well as illuminating the complex relationship between power and religious knowledge.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Deconstructing the Great Saljuq Myth 1

Chapter 2 The Nizam's Realm, the Orderly Realm 43

Chapter 3 Saljuq State Apparatuses 82

Chapter 4 The Shifting Politics of al-Ghazali 105

Chapter 5 Bargaining with Baraka 125

Chapter 6 An Oppositional Sufi: 'Ayn al-Qudat Hamadani 158

Appendix Nizam al-Mulk's Descendants in Saljuq Administrations 209.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-281) and index.

ISBN:

0807829935

0807856576

OCLC:

61204487