Waning crescent : the rise and fall of global Islam / Faisal Devji.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Devji, Faisal, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Islam--1800-.

Islam.

Islam--History.

Islam and politics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (270 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven, Connecticut : Yale University Press, [2025]

Summary:

"Until the nineteenth century, Islam was variously understood as a set of beliefs and practices. But after Muslims began to see their faith as an historical actor on the world stage, they needed to narrate Islam's birth anew as well as to imagine its possible death. Faisal Devji argues that this change, sparked by the crisis of Muslim sovereignty in the age of European empire, provided a way of thinking about agency in a global context : an Islam liberated from the authority of kings and clerics had the potential to represent the human race itself as a newly empirical reality. Ordinary Muslims, now recognized as the privileged representatives of Islam, were freed from traditional forms of Islamic authority. However, their conception of Islam as an impersonal actor in history meant that it could not be defined in either religious or political terms. Its existence as a civilizational and later ideological subject also deprived figures like God and the Prophet of their theological subjectivities while robbing the Muslim community of its political agency. Devji illuminates this history and explores its ramifications for the contemporary Muslim world."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The proper name

A prophet disarmed

The idols return

Women on the verge

Half in love

Hollow men.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0300283121

9780300283129

OCLC:

1531949164