Islam in the early modern world

doi:10.1017/CBO9781139022460.016

15 - Islam in the early modern world

from Part Three - Religion and Religious Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2015

Nile Green

Edited by

Jerry H. Bentley ,

Sanjay Subrahmanyam and

Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks

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Jerry H. Bentley: Affiliation:
University of Hawaii, Manoa
Sanjay Subrahmanyam: Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks: Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

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Summary

This chapter first explores the connection of different regions through the Sufi lineages that offered both the conceptual-genealogical ties and organizational-institutional networks that forged a cohesive if by no means unitary dar al-islam. It moves from geographical to social frontiers by examining the widespread conversions to Islam of this period as a process of collective acculturation and private strategy. Then the chapter traces the impact of the early modern empires on religious conformity and confessionalization as states furthered this conversion process by playing an increasing role in the organization and systematization of their subjects' religious and thereby public lives. The circulation of scholars initiated the sequences of comparison, dissonance and criticism that fed the many renewal movements of the eighteenth century. In some cases, colonial policies helped to further empower 'ulama who took on the role of middlemen between new colonial states and their communities.

Keywords

Neo-African culture extra-European interaction Spaniards Confucianism eastern Mediterranean civilization Sufism Tibetan Buddhism

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge World History , pp. 358 - 386

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139022460.016 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2015

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