Religion as Critique: Islamic Critical Thinking from Mecca to the Marketplace (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781469635095)

Irfan Ahmad makes the far-reaching argument that potent systems and modes for self-critique as well as critique of others are inherent in Islam--indeed, critique is integral to its fundamental tenets and practices. Challenging common views of Islam as hostile to critical thinking, Ahmad delineates thriving traditions of critique in Islamic culture, focusing in large part on South Asian traditions. Ahmad interrogates Greek and Enlightenment notions of reason and critique, and he notes how they are invoked in relation to "others," including Muslims. Drafting an alternative genealogy of critique in Islam, Ahmad reads religious teachings and texts, drawing on sources in Hindi, Urdu, Farsi, and English, and demonstrates how they serve as expressions of critique. Throughout, he depicts Islam as an agent, not an object, of critique.

On a broader level, Ahmad expands the idea of critique itself. Drawing on his fieldwork among marketplace hawkers in Delhi and Aligarh, he construes critique anthropologically as a sociocultural activity in the everyday lives of ordinary Muslims, beyond the world of intellectuals. Religion as Critique allows space for new theoretical considerations of modernity and change, taking on such salient issues as nationhood, women's equality, the state, culture, democracy, and secularism.

Author: Irfan Ahmad
ISBN-10: 1469635097
ISBN-13: 9781469635095
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Language: English
Published: 12/04/2017
Pages: 300
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.02lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.67d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 10/09/2017