Replete with a cast of giants in Islamic thought and philosophy,
Ahmad S. Dallal's pathbreaking intellectual history of the
eighteenth-century Muslim world challenges stale views of this
period as one of decline, stagnation, and the engendering of a
widespread fundamentalism. Far from being moribund, Dallal argues,
the eighteenth century--prior to systematic European
encounters--was one of the most fertile eras in Islamic
thought.
Across vast Islamic territories, Dallal charts in rich detail not
only how intellectuals rethought and reorganized religious
knowledge but also the reception and impact of their ideas. From
the banks of the Ganges to the shores of the Atlantic, commoners
and elites alike embraced the appeals of Muslim thinkers who, while
preserving classical styles of learning, advocated for general
participation by Muslims in the definition of Islam. Dallal also
uncovers the regional origins of most reform projects, showing how
ideologies were forged in particular sociopolitical contexts.
Reformists' ventures were in large part successful--up until the
beginnings of European colonization of the Muslim world. By the
nineteenth century, the encounter with Europe changed Islamic
discursive culture in significant ways into one that was largely
articulated in reaction to the radical challenges of
colonialism.