Modern Things on Trial: Islam’s Global and Material

Modern Things on Trial: Islam’s Global and Material Reformation in the Age of Rida, 1865–1935

In cities awakening to global exchange under European imperial rule, Muslims encountered all sorts of strange and wonderful new thingsâ€•synthetic toothbrushes, toilet paper, telegraphs, railways, gramophones, brimmed hats, tailored pants, and lottery tickets. The passage of these goods across cultural frontiers spurred passionate debates. Realizing that these goods were changing religious practices and values, proponents and critics wondered what to outlaw and what to permit.

In this book, Leor Halevi tells the story of the Islamic trials of technological and commercial innovations of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He focuses on the communications of an entrepreneurial Syrian interpreter of the shariÊ¿a named Rashid Rida, who became a renowned reformer by responding to the demand for authoritative and authentic religious advice. Upon migrating to Egypt, Rida founded an Islamic magazine, The Lighthouse, which cultivated an educated, prosperous readership within and beyond the British Empire. To an audience eager to know if their scriptures sanctioned particular interactions with particular objects, he preached the message that by rediscovering Islamâ€™s foundational spirit, the global community of Muslims would thrive and realize modernityâ€™s religious and secular promises.

Through analysis of Ridaâ€™s international correspondence, Halevi argues that religious entanglements with new commodities and technologies were the driving forces behind local and global projects to reform the Islamic legal tradition. Shedding light on culture, commerce, and consumption in Cairo and other colonial cities, Modern Things on Trial is a groundbreaking account of Islamâ€™s material transformation in a globalizing era.
Country USA
Brand Columbia University Press
Manufacturer Columbia University Press
Binding Hardcover
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780231188661
ReleaseDate 2019-07-09

Country	USA
Brand	Columbia University Press
Manufacturer	Columbia University Press
Binding	Hardcover
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780231188661
ReleaseDate	2019-07-09

Modern Things on Trial: Islam’s Global and Material Reformation in the Age of Rida, 1865–1935

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