Squaring the Circle in the Study of the Middle East

"Hail to thee blithe spirit, Bird thou never wert!" It was with a note of elation that the Muslim reader greeted the publication of Islamic Liberalism in anticipation of a feat that was not to be. It looked as if Professor Binder, who has successfully engaged the sympathies of many Muslim...

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Autor principal: Mona Abul-Fadl
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: International Institute of Islamic Thought 1991
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/34d1e9d3304c4578bc68593147350061
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:34d1e9d3304c4578bc685931473500612021-12-02T17:47:05ZSquaring the Circle in the Study of the Middle East10.35632/ajis.v8i3.26112690-37332690-3741https://doaj.org/article/34d1e9d3304c4578bc685931473500611991-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/view/2611https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3733https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3741 "Hail to thee blithe spirit, Bird thou never wert!" It was with a note of elation that the Muslim reader greeted the publication of Islamic Liberalism in anticipation of a feat that was not to be. It looked as if Professor Binder, who has successfully engaged the sympathies of many Muslims, was about to crown his thirty-year-odd career on the study of the Middle East with a breakthrough. Expectations were heightened by a timely coincidence. With the appearance of another compact masterpiece constituting the refinement of a craft by an old guard of the castle, it looked as if Islamic Liberalism was poised to storm the castle from within. There was evidently somebody at the Chicago University Press (which published both books) who combined a keen feel for the market with a flair for irony. To an audience drilled to the tune of militant Islam and its sombre variations, the mere conception of the idea of an Islamic liberalism promised a shift in the paradigm of understanding a political Islam. Introduced on a note beckoning to the significance, the necessity, indeed the possibility of a dialogue between Islam and the West, it would moreover raise all kinds of expectations about the canon in both the Western academy and the civilizational encounter. These expectations can only be gauged by the persistent undertones of a countertenor that seemed to be forever churning out more of the same. Instead of succumbing to the seductive discourse on the "rage of Islam" and feeding ... Mona Abul-FadlInternational Institute of Islamic ThoughtarticleIslamBP1-253ENAmerican Journal of Islam and Society, Vol 8, Iss 3 (1991)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Islam
BP1-253
spellingShingle Islam
BP1-253
Mona Abul-Fadl
Squaring the Circle in the Study of the Middle East
description "Hail to thee blithe spirit, Bird thou never wert!" It was with a note of elation that the Muslim reader greeted the publication of Islamic Liberalism in anticipation of a feat that was not to be. It looked as if Professor Binder, who has successfully engaged the sympathies of many Muslims, was about to crown his thirty-year-odd career on the study of the Middle East with a breakthrough. Expectations were heightened by a timely coincidence. With the appearance of another compact masterpiece constituting the refinement of a craft by an old guard of the castle, it looked as if Islamic Liberalism was poised to storm the castle from within. There was evidently somebody at the Chicago University Press (which published both books) who combined a keen feel for the market with a flair for irony. To an audience drilled to the tune of militant Islam and its sombre variations, the mere conception of the idea of an Islamic liberalism promised a shift in the paradigm of understanding a political Islam. Introduced on a note beckoning to the significance, the necessity, indeed the possibility of a dialogue between Islam and the West, it would moreover raise all kinds of expectations about the canon in both the Western academy and the civilizational encounter. These expectations can only be gauged by the persistent undertones of a countertenor that seemed to be forever churning out more of the same. Instead of succumbing to the seductive discourse on the "rage of Islam" and feeding ...
format article
author Mona Abul-Fadl
author_facet Mona Abul-Fadl
author_sort Mona Abul-Fadl
title Squaring the Circle in the Study of the Middle East
title_short Squaring the Circle in the Study of the Middle East
title_full Squaring the Circle in the Study of the Middle East
title_fullStr Squaring the Circle in the Study of the Middle East
title_full_unstemmed Squaring the Circle in the Study of the Middle East
title_sort squaring the circle in the study of the middle east
publisher International Institute of Islamic Thought
publishDate 1991
url https://doaj.org/article/34d1e9d3304c4578bc68593147350061
work_keys_str_mv AT monaabulfadl squaringthecircleinthestudyofthemiddleeast
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