The Problem with ‘What is …?’ Questions, the Literalism of Islamic Law, and the Importance of Being Islamic

AuthorMairaj U. Syed
Date01 December 2016
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1111/jols.12007
Published date01 December 2016
The Problem with `What is . ..?' Questions, the Literalism of
Islamic Law, and the Importance of Being Islamic
Mairaj U. Syed*
WHAT IS ISLAM? THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ISLAMIC by SHAHAB
AHMED
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015, 624 pp., £29.95)
At its heart, Ahmed conceives of What is Islam? The Importance of Being
Islamic as a response to what may seem like a rather prosaic question: what
is Islam? While many previous historians, anthropologists, art historians, and
religious studies scholars have formulated formal definitions of Islam,
Ahmed thinks their attempts have all been flawed in one way or another.
Because Ahmed thinks that only once Islam is appropriately defined can a
more accurate and meaningful understanding of it become possible (p. 108),
the core of the book is an extended argument for an academic conception of
Islam that overcomes the failings of previous attempts. He structures the
book in three sections. In the first section, Ahmed argues for why there is a
need for a formal conception of Islam. The second catalogues and criticizes
attempts by previous scholars at defining Islam. The final section consists of
the elaboration of the author's conceptualization of Islam and demonstration
of its utility through several small interpretive case studies.
The first chapter lays out the stakes in the debate over defining Islam by
positing that a successful conception should be able to show how six
widespread phenomena in post-classical (1350±1850) Muslim societies in
the geographic region anchored by the Balkans in the east to those lining the
rim of the Bay of Bengal in the west are Islamic. First, what is Islamic about
Islamic philosophy? Second, how could Sufis be making an intrinsically
Islamic claim, when they assert that their experiential knowledge trumps
Shar
õ`ah? Third, how is illuminationist philosophy (.
hikmat al-ishr
aq) and the
Sufi doctrine of the Unicity of Being (wa.
hdat al-wuj
ud) Islamic? Fourth,
how is .
H
afi.
z's poetry Islamic? Fifth, how is figural art Islamic? Sixth, how
could wine drinking be an Islamic practice?
661
*Department of Religious Studies, University of California, Davis, One
Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, United States of America
msyed@ucdavis.edu
I benefited greatly from conversations with Behnam Sadeghi, Sibtain Abidi, Joel Blecher,
and Kamran Islam. Needless to say, they are not responsible for the contents of this
review article.
ß2016 The Author. Journal of Law and Society ß2016 Cardiff University Law School

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