Books in the Exploring Muslim Contexts series

Cosmopolitanism is a key concept in social and political thought, standing in opposition to closed human group ideologies such as tribalism, nationalism and fundamentalism. Recent discussions of it have been situated within Western self-perceptions. This volume explores it from Muslim perspectives.

Current popular and academic discussions make certain assumptions regarding Islam and its lack of compatibility with pluralism. Some notable liberal thinkers have even argued that pluralism itself is inherently antithetical to Islam. This volume addresses these assumptions by bringing clarity to some of its key suppositions and conjectures.

Following a period of rapid political change, both globally and in relation to the Middle East and South Asia, this collection sets new terms of reference for an analysis of the intersections between global, state, non-state and popular actors and their contradictory effects on the politics of gender.

Explores the generation, preservation and manipulation of genealogical knowledge. This title ranges from the Prophet's family tree to the present, ideas about kinship and descent have shaped communal and national identities in Muslim societies.

Islam is stereotypically presented as a monolithic civilisation that has stifled the emergence of cultural pluralism and individual freedom. In contrast, this volume showcases the diversity and plurality of Muslim societies. It includes case studies on rituals and symbols in Syria, Tunisia, Damascus, Algeria, Britain, Pakistan, Brazil and Lebanon.

This ethnographic account of legal pluralism in the simultaneously post-conflict and disaster situation in Aceh studies what is probably the fastest changing legal system in the Muslim world. Addressing changes in both the national legal system of Indonesia and the regional legal structure in the province of Aceh, it focuses on the encounter between diverse patterns of legal reasoning advocated by multiple actors or put forward by different institutions (local, national and international; official and unofficial; or judicial, political and social cultural) attendant to the vast array of issues arising in the wake of the December 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Aceh. As well as covering disputes about rights to land and other forms of property, it also investigates disputes about power relations, the conflict of rules, gender relationships, the right to make decisions, and prevailing norms. It presents disputes on multiple levels and in various forums, either through negotiation or adjudication, regardless of whether they are settled or not. The cases involve various actors from villages, the courts, the provincial government and the legislature, the national Supreme Court and the central government of Indonesia.

Looks at moments in world history when cosmopolitanism pervaded Muslim societies.This volume focuses on instances in world history when cosmopolitan ideas and actions pervaded specific Muslim societies and cultures, exploring the tensions between regional cultures, isolated enclaves and modern nation-states. Models from the past are chosen from 4 geographic areas: the Swahili coast, the Ottoman Empire/ Turkey, Iran and Indo-Pakistan. Each region is covered in 2 chapters, proving a basis for the comparison of specific cosmopolitan instances in Muslim contexts.Cosmopolitanism is a key concept in social and political thought, standing in opposition to closed human group ideologies such as tribalism, nationalism and fundamentalism. Much recent discussion of this concept has been situated within Western self-perceptions with little inclusion of information from Muslim contexts; this volume redresses the balance.

Explores the influence of centres of Islamic learning in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt. This book claims that Saudi oil money is fuelling Salafi Islam in and geographical terrains as disparate as the remote hamlets of the Swat valley in Pakistan and sprawling megacities such as Jakarta.

Through case studies of academic institutions the volume illustrates how transmission of ideas is an extremely complex process, and the outcome of such efforts depends not just on the strategies adopted by backers of those ideologies but equally on the characteristics of the receipt communities.

Following a period of rapid political change, both globally and in relation to the Middle East and South Asia, this collection sets new terms of reference for an analysis of the intersections between global, state, non-state and popular actors and their contradictory effects on the politics of gender.