Philosophers, Sufis, and Caliphs - Politics and Authority From Cordoba to Cairo and Baghdad

This book investigates the relationship between government and religion in Middle Eastern history from Morocco to Egypt and Iraq.

List of contents

List of figures; Acknowledgments; Introduction: politics, law, and authority in the Abbasid and Fatimid; Part I. Philosophical Caliphs and their Impact on the Scholars: 1. Rival caliphs in Baghdad and Cairo; 2. A third caliphate in Cordoba; 3. Political reform among the later Abbasids; Part II. Philosophical Sufis among Scholars and their Impact on Political Culture: 4. Sufi metaphysics in the twelfth century; 5. A new political model and its Sufi; 6. The transformation of caliphal politics; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

About the author

Ali Humayun Akhtar is an Assistant Professor at Bates College, Maine. He is also the Robert M. Kingdon Fellow at the Institute for Research in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Akhtar holds a Ph.D. in History and Middle Eastern Studies from New York University.

Summary

This book investigates the relationship between government and religion in Middle Eastern history. By tracing how political debates about leadership impacted the theological scholars and their own conception of communal guidance, it offers a new picture of premodern political authority and the connections between Western and Islamic civilizations.

Product details

• Authors: Ali Humayun Akhtar, Ali Humayun (Bates College Akhtar
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.12.2019
• EAN: 9781316633090
• ISBN: 978-1-316-63309-0
• No. of pages: 278
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Other religions; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Islam, History, RELIGION / General, HISTORY / Middle East / General, RELIGION / Islam / General, HISTORY / Asia / General, RELIGION / Islam / Rituals & Practice, HISTORY / World, Middle East, General & world history, Religion & beliefs, Middle Eastern history, Asian History, General and world history, Religion and beliefs, Islamic Life & Practice, Islamic life and practice