Customer Reviews

The Politics of Knowledge in Premodern Islam: Negotiating Ideology and Religious Inquiry (Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks)

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I came across this book in a course on Byzantium, and was very impressed with Safi's analysis of the Saljuk influence on Islam, and most particularly in the realm of the mystics bartering baraka for orthodoxy and political influence. Safi's argument is convincing, even if it is a movement away from more traditional scholarship. This book is very well written and engaging definitely one of my favorite books in the realm of Islamic scholarship.

Let me start by saying that I am no scholar of medieval Islam - just an interested lay reader. So I cannot pass judgment on Omid Safi's scholarship or the correctness of his conclusions, only on the potential interest of the book to a novice.

Safi focuses on the eleventh and twelfth century reign of the Saljuqs, a ruthless tribe of nomadic heathens that roared in from central Asia and conquered much of the eastern half of the Islamic world. In order to legitimatize their regime they converted to Islam and set about bargaining with the religious establishment to gain its seal of approval.

It is this negotiating process that Safi documents in detail through several generations of Saljuq political rulers, Islamic scholars, and Sufi mystics, including famous names like al-Ghazali and Nizam al-Mulk. In many ways it is reminiscent of other church-state negotiations throughout history and up to the present time.

Safi's somewhat depressing point is that it was relatively easy for the Saljuqs to buy off the religious community through patronage and, as a result, to gain an undeserved reputation as defenders of the faith, a reputation that persists in modern scholarship.

The lone hold-out exception was the Sufi Ayn al-Qudat Hamadani, who opposed the Saljuqs and wound up executed for his trouble. Ayn al-Qudat is clearly Safi's hero.

The prose is fairly dry, though fortunately Safi manages to suppress most of the inevitable postmodern jargon. The cast of characters is large and mostly alien to an outside reader. A couple of good maps would have helped. But the tale is interesting and familiar, and I would recommend this book to any non-expert interested in the topic and willing to work through the text.

I was very intrigued by this book. It is an in depth look at medieval Islamic society, and I found it fascinating that there is not just one view on issues, but always a range of perspectives. It was particularly good on the relationship between religion and politics, and also the social role of scholars and mystics. beautifully written!