Awards

• Runner-up for AAR Award for Excellence, Analytical-Descriptive Studies, Finalist 2021 (United States)
• Runner-up for American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence, Analytical-Descriptive Studies, Finalist 2021 (United States)
• Winner of American Institute of Pakistan Studies 2020 Book Prize 2020 (United States)
• Winner of American Institute of Pakistan Studies Book Prize 2020 (United States)

Overview

Full Product Details

9780268106690

Table of Contents

Reviews

This book is beautifully written in a language accessible for students and colleagues who have not previously engaged with this topic. If you can only read three books on Islam in South Asia, Defending Muhammad in Modernity needs to be one of them. --Margrit Pernau, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, author of Ashraf Into Middle Classes: Muslims in Nineteenth-Century Delhi Defending Muhammad in Modernity offers a major contribution to the literature on the history of Muslims (and Islam) in South Asia. SherAli Tareen's detailed exploration of the form and logic of the polemical engagements that marked the development of competing Deobandi and Barelvi visions in the nineteenth century is exceptional and provides a critical backdrop for understanding the divisions that continue to shape the dynamics of South Asian Muslim thinking today. The book is also noteworthy for its deep engagement with Urdu, Persian, and Arabic sources. --David Gilmartin, North Carolina State University, author of Empire and Islam: Punjab and the Making of Pakistan No book offers a richer, more illuminating guide to the origins and the complex theological relationship of the Barelvi and the Deobandi orientations, which have dominated Sunni Islam in modern South Asia, than Defending Muhammad in Modernity. SherAli Tareen's deeply researched, theoretically informed, yet remarkably accessible study will help make Islam in modern South Asia part of wider and much needed conversations among scholars of religion. --Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Princeton University, author of Islam in Pakistan: A History

This book is beautifully written in a language accessible for students and colleagues who have not previously engaged with this topic. If you can only read three books on Islam in South Asia, Defending Muhammad in Modernity needs to be one of them. -Margrit Pernau, Max Planck Institute for Human Development No book offers a richer, more illuminating guide to the origins and complex theological relationship of the Barelvi and the Deobandi orientations, which have dominated Sunni Islam in modern South Asia, than Defending Muhammad in Modernity. SherAli Tareen's deeply researched, theoretically informed, yet remarkably accessible study will help make Islam in modern South Asia part of wider and much needed conversations among scholars of religion. -Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Princeton University, author of Islam in Pakistan: A History Defending Muhammad in Modernity offers a major contribution to the literature on the history of Muslims (and Islam) in South Asia. SherAli Tareen's detailed exploration of the form and logic of the polemical engagements that marked the development of competing Deobandi and Barelvi visions in the nineteenth century is exceptional and provides a critical backdrop for understanding the divisions that continue to shape the dynamics of South Asian Muslim thinking today. The book is also noteworthy for its deep engagement with Urdu, Persian, and Arabic sources. -David Gilmartin, North Carolina State University, author of Empire and Islam: Punjab and the Making of Pakistan This book lands like an obelisk at the intersection of several fields. It joins the philological rigor of classical Islamic studies with the theoretical framing of religious studies and the contextual nous of South Asian studies. It will likely be a new point of departure for conversations around Islam in early modern and modern South Asia. -Jonathan Brown, Georgetown University, author of Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenges and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy A masterful study of the polemics over Muhammad's status that have been occurring for more than a century in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh... it shows us that this polemical tradition is founded in a genuine argument, whose philosophical and juridical implications are meaningful even for those outside its purview. -Faisal Devji, University of Oxford, author of Muslim Zion: Pakistan as a Political Idea Defending Muhammad in Modernity is dense, meticulously researched, and elegantly written and will set the standard for the study of the two most influential Sunni Muslim movements in the region today. -The Journal of Asian Studies The book is a tremendous contribution to the fields of South Asia and Islamic studies, while its theorizing on the twin forces of religion and secularism also adds greatly to conversations in the study of religion and politics. -New Books Network There is little denying the fact that through [Tareen's] account, one learns a huge amount, about theology, method, Islam, and much more. The thoroughness to detail and depth in his commentary and analysis and in the very wide reading that he has undertaken and conveyed to a reader is most welcome and useful and highly recommended. This is a superb book. -H-Asia, H-Net Reviews Tareen's Defending Muhammad in Modernity is a thoroughly researched, well-written, monumental contribution to the scholarly literature on religious construction during colonialism in South Asia. -American Journal of Islam and Society

"""This book is beautifully written in a language accessible for students and colleagues who have not previously engaged with this topic. If you can only read three books on Islam in South Asia, Defending Muḥammad in Modernity needs to be one of them."" —Margrit Pernau, Max Planck Institute for Human Development ""No book offers a richer, more illuminating guide to the origins and complex theological relationship of the Barelvi and the Deobandi orientations, which have dominated Sunni Islam in modern South Asia, than Defending Muḥammad in Modernity. SherAli Tareen’s deeply researched, theoretically informed, yet remarkably accessible study will help make Islam in modern South Asia part of wider and much needed conversations among scholars of religion."" —Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Princeton University, author of Islam in Pakistan: A History ""Defending Muḥammad in Modernity offers a major contribution to the literature on the history of Muslims (and Islam) in South Asia. SherAli Tareen's detailed exploration of the form and logic of the polemical engagements that marked the development of competing Deobandi and Barelvi visions in the nineteenth century is exceptional and provides a critical backdrop for understanding the divisions that continue to shape the dynamics of South Asian Muslim thinking today. The book is also noteworthy for its deep engagement with Urdu, Persian, and Arabic sources."" —David Gilmartin, North Carolina State University, author of Empire and Islam: Punjab and the Making of Pakistan “This book lands like an obelisk at the intersection of several fields. It joins the philological rigor of classical Islamic studies with the theoretical framing of religious studies and the contextual nous of South Asian studies. It will likely be a new point of departure for conversations around Islam in early modern and modern South Asia.” —Jonathan Brown, Georgetown University, author of Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenges and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet’s Legacy “A masterful study of the polemics over Muḥammad’s status that have been occurring for more than a century in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh… it shows us that this polemical tradition is founded in a genuine argument, whose philosophical and juridical implications are meaningful even for those outside its purview.” —Faisal Devji, University of Oxford, author of Muslim Zion: Pakistan as a Political Idea “Defending Muhammad in Modernity is dense, meticulously researched, and elegantly written and will set the standard for the study of the two most influential Sunni Muslim movements in the region today.” —The Journal of Asian Studies ""The book is a tremendous contribution to the fields of South Asia and Islamic studies, while its theorizing on the twin forces of religion and secularism also adds greatly to conversations in the study of religion and politics."" —New Books Network ""There is little denying the fact that through [Tareen's] account, one learns a huge amount, about theology, method, Islam, and much more. The thoroughness to detail and depth in his commentary and analysis and in the very wide reading that he has undertaken and conveyed to a reader is most welcome and useful and highly recommended. This is a superb book."" —H-Asia, H-Net Reviews ""Tareen’s Defending Muhammad in Modernity is a thoroughly researched, well-written, monumental contribution to the scholarly literature on religious construction during colonialism in South Asia."" —American Journal of Islam and Society"

This book is beautifully written in a language accessible for students and colleagues who have not previously engaged with this topic. If you can only read three books on Islam in South Asia, Defending Muhammad in Modernity needs to be one of them. --Margrit Pernau, Max Planck Institute for Human Development Defending Muhammad in Modernity is a substantial addition to the literature on the history of Islam in South Asia and to 'polemical encounters' among South Asian Muslims more generally. The book is important both for its careful and nuanced analysis of the arguments and logic shaping Deobandi and Barelvi arguments and for opening up new perspectives on how we might assess the historical significance of these debates. --David Gilmartin, North Carolina State University

This book is beautifully written in a language accessible for students and colleagues who have not previously engaged with this topic. If you can only read three books on Islam in South Asia, Defending Muhammad in Modernity needs to be one of them. --Margrit Pernau, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, author of Ashraf Into Middle Classes: Muslims in Nineteenth-Century Delhi No book offers a richer, more illuminating guide to the origins and the complex theological relationship of the Barelvi and the Deobandi orientations, which have dominated Sunni Islam in modern South Asia, than Defending Muhammad in Modernity. SherAli Tareen's deeply researched, theoretically informed, yet remarkably accessible study will help make Islam in modern South Asia part of wider and much needed conversations among scholars of religion. --Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Princeton University, author of Islam in Pakistan: A History Defending Muhammad in Modernity offers a major contribution to the literature on the history of Muslims (and Islam) in South Asia. SherAli Tareen's detailed exploration of the form and logic of the polemical engagements that marked the development of competing Deobandi and Barelvi visions in the nineteenth century is exceptional and provides a critical backdrop for understanding the divisions that continue to shape the dynamics of South Asian Muslim thinking today. The book is also noteworthy for its deep engagement with Urdu, Persian, and Arabic sources. --David Gilmartin, North Carolina State University, author of Empire and Islam: Punjab and the Making of Pakistan

Author Information

SherAli Tareen is associate professor of religious studies at Franklin and Marshall College. He is co-editor of Imagining the Public in Modern South Asia. Margrit Pernau is a senior researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and author of Ashraf Into Middle Classes: Muslims in Nineteenth-Century Delhi.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available