Muslim Identities; An Introduction to Islam; Hughes

Aaron W. Hughes [+–]

University of Rochester

Aaron W. Hughes is the Dean’s Professor of the Humanities and the Philip S. Bernstein Professor in the Department of Religion and Classics at the University of Rochester. His research and publications focus on both Jewish philosophy and Islamic Studies. He has authored numerous books, including Situating Islam: The Past and Future of an Academic Discipline (Equinox, 2007); Theorizing Islam: Disciplinary Deconstruction and Reconstruction (Equinox, 2012); Muslim Identities: An Introduction to Islam (Columbia, 2012); and Abrahamic Religions: On the Uses and Abuses of History (Oxford, 2012). He currently serves as the editor of the journal Method and Theory in the Study of Religion.

Muslim Identities: An Introduction to Islam presents a fully updated introduction to the religion of Islam and the various social groups who define themselves as Muslim. Unlike other such works, it presents both insider and outsider accounts with the aim of striking a unique balance between overly apologetical and overly Orientalist perspectives.

With the first edition described as a “truly outstanding book” and “the very best introduction currently available in English for non-Muslims seeking a sound approach to Islam” (Journal of Islamic Studies), this new edition offers both students and general readers a comprehensive and balanced introduction to the world’s second-largest religion.

Each chapter of this second edition has been fully revised and includes an up-to-date bibliography that considers the most recent scholarship. Readers will also find a new final chapter that examines the role and place of Muslims in the modern West.

Prelims

Preface to Second Edition ix-x

Acknowledgements xi-xii

Introduction

Religious Studies and the Academic Study of Islam [+–] 1-8

The opening chapter highlights the approach taken in this book: critical religious studies, while, at the same time, aware that what follows must account for Muslim belief, practice, and theology. This means understanding basic concepts in the study of religion, such as “insider v. outsider” and “critic v. caretaker.” Such a distinctions allow for an appreciation that Muslim identities, like all identities, are actively constructed by social groups in distinct contexts. This active construction then functions as the leitmotif that links up the following chapters.

Part I: Beginnings

1. Arabia Prior to the Advent of Islam [+–] 11-37

This chapter explores the Arabian Peninsula prior to the rise of Islam. After examining some of the problems involved in studying this period, it then asks (and seeks to answer) basic questions such as: Who were the Arabs? What kind of religions existed in Arabia? The chapter provides the traditional Muslim account and then more skeptical approach of Western scholarship, before striking a synthesis between these two accounts.

2. The Making of the Last Prophet [+–] 39-61

As the title suggests, this chapter examines the role and function of Muhammad, Islam’s prophet, in the formation of Muslim identities. It provides some of the sources used to reconstruct that life, and the biographical tradition that gives us details of his life and times in both Mecca and Medina. After exploring issues such as his “night flight” and his consolidation of the community in Mecca, it looks at the role of Muhammad in subsequent Islamic formation. The latter includes the genre know as hadith, or his sayings and deeds.

3. The Quran: The Foundation [+–] 63-82

This chapter is devoted to the Quran, the base text in Islam, the one from which all else derives, in one way or another. After a general overview, it gives the traditional Muslim account of its origins, followed by a more critical approach, and then—like the previous two chapters—consolidates the two accounts. It then provides the general themes of the Quran, before showing how it functions in Muslim life and in the later commentary tradition that grew up around it.

Part II: Identity Formations

4. The Spread of Islam Beyond the Arabian Peninsula [+–] 85-104

The chapter begins with the death of Muhammad and some of the early growing pains facing the young community. It gives details of the first four caliphs (al-rashidun), and then the subsequent creation of an Islamic empire that spread from Morocco in the West to India in the East. How did Islam spread? Who was responsible for this spread?

5. Early Sectarianism and the Formation of Shiʿism [+–] 105-118

This chapter traces the development of Shiʿism, beginning with the political grievances of the followers of Ali, the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law, to its full-blown articulation as a major denomination within Islam. It explores this articulation by looking at major ideas such as the role of the Imams in general and that of the final Imam in particular. The chapter also discusses “sub-denominations” within Shiʿism.

6. Legal Developments and the Gradual Emergence of Sunni Islam [+–] 119-134

This chapter focuses on the emergence and subsequent development of Islamic law, something that increasingly came to define the emergence of the other major denomination in Islam, Sunnism. It examines the rise of a class (the ulama) to determine the law (sharia), before exploring the sources used to determine this law and the various legal schools that arose it.

7. Sufism: The Mystical Strain in Islam [+–] 135-153

The chapter begins with a definition and understanding of mysticism in general before attempting to locate Islamic mysticism (Sufism) within this understanding. It provides various accounts for the possible origins of Sufism, and then surveys some of the main individuals and teachings associated with the tradition. The chapter ends by describing some of the criticisms of Sufism from more conservative interpretations of Islam.

Part III: Beliefs and Practices

8. The Maintenance of Muslim Identities: Beliefs and Schools [+–] 157-172

This chapter, as the title indicates, revolves around an understanding of the various beliefs of Muslims. Without assuming that all Muslims—across time and geography—think or believe the same things, it nevertheless seeks to account for a general and wide-ranging set of beliefs. These include doctrines of belief and faith. The chapter also highlights the various theological schools that have arisen in Islam.

9. The Performance of Muslim Identities [+–] 173-187

This chapter seeks to account for the various practices in which many Muslims engage, both in the past and in the present. This means a focus on what are often called the “pillars” of Islam. It also examines ritual belief in the various denominations, included so-called popular of lived Islam.

Part IV: Modern Variations

10. Encounters with Modernity [+–] 191-212

After providing a set of definitions to understand the rather vague concept of “modernity,” this chapter seeks to discuss how Islam has responded to modernity using a framework that involves “maximalism” and “minimalism.” The former seeks to assert Islamic values to confront what are perceived to be the pernicious influence of the modern world. The latter, by contrast, often seeks to accommodate certain aspects of the tradition to modernity. This framework helps us to appreciate that there is no simple Islamic response, but sets of responses. These include nationalist, so-called fundamentalist, and modernist approaches.

11. Gender and Construction of Muslim Women [+–] 213-227

No discussion of Islam is complete without a discussion of the role of gender. This chapter examines the construction of gender in Islam, exploring contested concepts such as the veil and veiling. It then moves onto a discussion of feminism (both Western and Islamic), before showcasing some important Muslim feminists.

12. Islam and “the West” [+–] 229-242

This chapter explores recent tensions between Islam and the so-called West. Its point of departure is the events of September 11, 2001. It also explores more recent iterations of Islamic maximalists, such as ISIS. The chapter then turns its attention to the rise of Islamophobia in the West.

13. The Inconvenient Muslim: From Majority to Minority [+–] 243-250

This final chapter examine the role of Muslims in the West, and how as a trope, “the Muslim” allows modern Western nation states to define itself and its values in light of this “other.” It explores Muslim bans, attempts to curtail immigration from Muslim countries, and laws passed to curtail the veil in public spaces.

End Matter

Glossary 251-254

Selected Bibliography 255-264

Index 265-272

Reviews

Muslim Identities by Aaron Hughes is one of the most balanced introductory textbooks for the academic study of Islam that I have read and taught. It is both thorough and scholarly, yet also easily legible. It addresses insider/outsider debates and examines controversial issues, such as “Islam and 9/11,” with both boldness and sensitivity.
Edith Szanto, Assistant Professor, Religious Studies, University of Alabama

This book is more than just an introduction to Islam. Aaron Hughes provides analytical tools for the reader to understand Islam as a historical and social phenomenon, and not as a static and homogeneous entity. Despite its admirably clear language, accessible to the non-specialist, Muslim Identities is written with utmost scholarly rigor. It keeps complexity and historical change at the forefront of its exposition and steers away from simplistic clichés.
Mushegh Asatryan, Associate Professor of Arabic and Muslim Cultures, University of Calgary

Islamic Studies

Books and Journals in Humanities, Social Science and Performing Arts

Muslim Identities

An Introduction to Islam

Second Edition

Aaron W. Hughes [+–]

University of Rochester

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