The Public Sphere in Muslim Societies
Shmuel N Eisenstadt editor Nehemia Levtzion editor Miriam Hoexter editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:State University of New York Press
Published:17th Jul '02
Should be back in stock very soon
Challenging conventional assumptions, the contributors to this interdisciplinary volume argue that premodern Muslim societies had diverse and changing varieties of public spheres, constructed according to premises different from those of Western societies. The public sphere, conceptualized as a separate and autonomous sphere between the official and private, is used to shed new light on familiar topics in Islamic history, such as the role of the shari`a (Islamic religious law), the `ulama' (Islamic scholars), schools of law, Sufi brotherhoods, the Islamic endowment institution, and the relationship between power and culture, rulers and community, from the ninth to twentieth centuries.
"This book provides a fresh interpretation of well-known Muslim socio-religious institutions, stressing their autonomy from states and the protection they offered to Muslim communities." — Ira M. Lapidus, author of A History of Islamic Societies
"The authors to this volume perform a valuable service, since there have been few, if any, collaborative studies of public sphere and civil society in the field of premodern Muslim/Middle Eastern history." — Michael Bonner, author of Aristocratic Violence and Holy War: Studies in the Jihad and the Arab-Byzantine Frontier
Contributors include Dale F. Eickelman, Shmuel N. Eisenstadt, Daphna Ephrat, Haim Gerber, Miriam Hoexter, Nimrod Hurvitz, Aharon Layish, Nehemia Levtzion, and Daniella Talmon-Heller.
ISBN: 9780791453681
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 25mm
Weight: 327g
202 pages