A Forum on SherAli Tareen’s Defending Muhammad in Modernity

This forum on SherAli Tareen’s landmark study, Defending Muhammad in Modernity, illuminates several key terms in the study of religion in the modern world: sovereignty, political theology, and the secular (as both a mode of governance and a form of life). The forum also addresses the following analytical issues: how to read the dialogue of discourse and practice; how to contextualize ideas and rituals without reinforcing historicism; and how to pursue cross-cultural translation of concepts.

University of Notre Dame Press, 2020

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Contributors

Traditions and Tensions: Islam in Modern South Asia, Ali Altaf Mian, University of Florida

Beyond Mosque and Madrasa: Everyday Theology in Islam, Kecia Ali, Boston University

A/Synchronicity: Text and Context in Tareen’s Defending Muhammad in Modernity, Noah Salomon, University of Virginia

Doctrinal Debates in Islam: Beyond Binaries, Megan Eaton Robb, University of Pennsylvania

Political Theologies: Islam and the Nation-State, Mashal Saif, Clemson University

Sovereignty and Secularism in Modern Islam: A Response, SherAli Tareen, Franklin and Marshall College