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.
Author(s): Miriam Hoexter, Shmuel N. Eisenstadt, Nehemia Levtzion
Series: SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 202
THE PUBLIC SPHERE IN MUSLIM SOCIETIES......Page 4
CONTENTS......Page 6
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 8
NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION......Page 10
FOREWORD: THE RELIGIOUS PUBLIC SPHERE IN EARLY MUSLIM SOCIETIES by DALE F. EICKELMAN......Page 12
INTRODUCTION by MIRIAM HOEXTER AND NEHEMIA LEVTZION......Page 20
1. THE MIHNA (INQUISITION) AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE by NIMROD HURVITZ......Page 28
2. RELIGIOUS LEADERSHIP AND ASSOCIATIONS IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE OF SELJUK BAGHDAD by DAPHNA EPHRAT......Page 42
3. RELIGION IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE: RULERS, SCHOLARS, AND COMMONERS IN SYRIA UNDER ZANGID AND AYYUBID RULE (1150–1260) by DANIELLA TALMON-HELLER......Page 60
4. THE PUBLIC SPHERE AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE by HAIM GERBER......Page 76
5. THE QADI’S ROLE IN THE ISLAMIZATION OF SEDENTARY TRIBAL SOCIETY by AHARON LAYISH......Page 94
6. THE DYNAMICS OF SUFI BROTHERHOODS by NEHEMIA LEVTZION......Page 120
7. THE WAQF AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE by MIRIAM HOEXTER......Page 130
8. CONCLUDING REMARKS: PUBLIC SPHERE, CIVIL SOCIETY, AND POLITICAL DYNAMICS IN ISLAMIC SOCIETIES by SHMUEL N. EISENSTADT......Page 150
WORKS CITED......Page 174
CONTRIBUTORS......Page 196
G......Page 198
N......Page 199
R......Page 200
U......Page 201
Z......Page 202
