Islam the State and the Political Authority: Medieval Issues and Modern Concerns By Asma Afsaruddin

Abstract

The book under review, Islam, the State, and the Political Authority (edited by Asma Afsaruddin), is a collection of 12 essays and an “Introduction”. It offers rich scholarly studies that challenge the view concerning the assumed monolithic ‘Islamic State’ and a single model of political authority, “theocratic caliphate”, by investigating both Sunni and Shi‘i political literature, and by combining both medieval and modern theories and theorists. Part I, “Medieval Section”, consists of chapters 1 -6, and Part II, “Modern section” includes chapters 7-12, collectively highlight the “temporality of these discussions concerning specific aspects of the Islamic political tradition(s)”. The book is broad in scope and diverse in themes, and thus is a welcome addition to the existing scholarship on the relationship between Islam and political authority