Religion, Orientalism and Modernity
Mahdi Movements of Iran and South Asia
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Edinburgh University Press
Published:27th Jan '22
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Geoffrey Nash explores the emergence of the revolutionary Babis and reformist Baha’is and their conflict with mainstream Shi’a Muslims in Iran, and of the parallel Ahmadi movement in North India. It gives fresh insights into the writings that defined these innovatory movements, penned on the one hand by their proponents, and on the other by western interpreters. Comparing these movements shows that, together, they define important aspects of Islamic modernity. A focus on two case studies (Babis and Baha’is in Iran, and Ahmadis in India) reveals similarities and differences in their responses to a perceived need for change and renewal of religious authority.
Nash has written an interesting account of the complex entanglement of three very distinct nineteenth-century Islamic reform movements that reflects on Western Orientalist thought in the context of the asymmetric power relations with European imperialism. -- Dietrich Jung * Die Welt Des Islams *
This book represents a valuable contribution to the study of the Bahai faith and the Ahmadiyya movement, as well as a detailed analysis of minority movements’ adoption of the coloniser’s discourse on modernity and Islam. * Dr Reza Zia-Ebrahimi, Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor of History, King's College London *
Nash is to be commended for presenting an eloquently written and carefully considered study that is rooted in a postcolonial reading of foundational orientalist texts...Religion, Orientalism and Modernity demands a careful reading and will undoubtedly be rewarding for scholars who will appreciate a non-polemical postcolonial analysis of the Ahmadi, Babi, and Baha’i movements. -- Amir Dastmalchian * The Muslim World Book Review *
ISBN: 9781474451680
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
336 pages