Akbar S. Ahmed

Discovering Islam. Making Sense of Muslim History and Society

Routledge 1988

Stron X+251

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Writing in the tradition of the great Arab historian Ibn Khaldun, Akbar S. Ahmed provides an explanation of Muslim history and society of interest to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Islam is popularly seen, especially in the West, as aggressive and fanatic. This readable and accessible account, by an internationally known social scientist, balances that image.
Dr Ahmed skilfully combines an astute understanding of Islamic history with sociological analysis of contemporary Muslim societies. The book ranges widely, from the origins of Islam and the history of the great Muslim empires, through an account of sufis. saints, and scholars, to discussions of modern Islamic societies, including an account of the place of women in Islam. The objective picture which emerges brilliantly illuminates the main features of Muslim history and explains the compulsions of Muslim society.
THE AUTHOR
Akbar S. Ahmed is Commissioner of Sibi Division in Baluchistan Province. Pakistan. Educated at Punjab University, and the Universities of Birmingham. Cambridge, and London, he has been Visiting Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton and Harvard University. He has also been on the faculty of the Islamic Institute of Advanced Study. USA: the Islamic Academy. Cambridge; the University of Washington: and the Quaid-e-Azam University. Islamabad and has been offered the Allama Iqbal Fellowship/Chair in Pakistan Studies at Cambridge University. Dr Ahmed has travelled extensively in the Muslim world and given lectures and seminars on Islam to audiences in the USA. the UK. the USSR. Japan. India. Egypt. Turkey. France, and Saudi Arabia. He is the author of Millennium and Charisma among Pathans (Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1976). Pukhtun Economy and Society (Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1980). Religion and Politics in Muslim Society (Cambridge University Press. 1983). Pakistan Society: Islam. Ethnicity and Leadership in South Asia (Oxford Univer¬sity Press. 1986) and co-editor (with D. Hart) of Islam in Tribal Societies (Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1984).
Contents






Preface    ix
1    Introduction: discovering Islam    1

Part One   The Pattern of Islamic History
2    Muslim ideal: holy Book and Prophet    15
3    A theory of Islamic history    30

1    Ideal caliphs    33
2    Arab dynasties: Umayyads and Abbasids    38
3    The flowering of Islamic civilization    44
4    Decline and fall    51
5    Shias: revolution in the revolution    55
6    Mahdism and millenarian movements    61

4    The great Muslim empires: Ottomans, Saffavids and Mughals    65
1    Ottomans: facing Europe    65
2    Saffavids: Shia state    69
3    Mughals: encounter with Hinduism    72
4    Obsession and synthesis    86
5    Sufis and scholars    90
1    Sufis, saints and mystics    91
2    Two scholars of Islam: Al Beruni and Ibn Khaldun    98
6    Islam of the periphery    107
1    On the periphery    107
2    The Muslim minority in China    110
3    Muslims in the USSR    111
7    Under European rule: the colonial impact on Muslim society    117
1    The disintegration of society    118
2    The myth of the noble savage: Muslim tribesman    132

Part Two   Contemporary Muslim Society

8    Princes and paupers: Muslim societies in Saudi Arabia and south India    143
1    Saudi Arabia: the reawakening of the peninsula    144
2    The Andalus syndrome in south India: a la recherche du temps perdu    158
9    Muslim society turned inside out: ethnicity, women and refugees    172
1    'Dubai chalo': ethnic encounters between Middle Eastern and South Asian Muslim societies    172
2    Muslim women    184
3    Afghan refugees: displacement and despair    196

10    The reconstruction of Muslim thought    200
1    Contemporary Muslim scholarship    200
2    Creating Islamic social sciences    208
11    Only connect    217
1    American society: Great Satan or paradise on earth?    217
2    Connecting    221
3    Conclusion: the discovery of Islam    227
Appendix: Muslim chronology    232
Glossary of Islamic terminology    237
Bibliography: suggested readings    238
Index    240