Preaching Pious Rulership in Medieval Islam - (Edinburgh Studies in Classical Islamic History and Culture) by Han Hsien Liew (Hardcover)

About the Book

Studies the role of preaching and emotions in medieval Islamic political thought.

Book Synopsis

This book studies the relationship between political thought, preaching and emotions through the writings of Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 1201), a celebrated hortatory preacher in late-Abbasid Baghdad. Through an intertextual analysis of Ibn al-Jawzi's works in various genres, this book details how his ideal form of rulership reflected the emotional norms and pietistic moral virtues promoted in Muslim hortatory sermons. It also examines the emotional strategies deployed in his efforts to reform the rulers of his time. In highlighting the importance of piety in Ibn al-Jawzi's political discourses, the book points to a new reading of the history of Islamic political thought that, rather than foregrounding order and military prowess, considers competing political languages among medieval Muslim intellectuals. In doing so, it calls for the need to rethink notions of 'politics' and the 'political' when studying Islam.

Review Quotes

A superb study of Ibn al-Jawzi, thoroughly, meticulously and insightfully conveying the integration in his writings and preaching of discourses of ethical politics on the one hand and personal piety and merit on the other. Han Hsien Liew shows how preaching brought debates over political legitimacy into the public sphere, and how the offering of political advice moved well beyond court circles into urban space.--Louise Marlow, Wellesley College

Han Hsien Liew's study is an engaging exploration of a major premodern religious scholar's grappling with political and social contingency. This book stands as a finely crafted reminder of the enduring political significance of religious preaching--both in the past and in our present moment.--Hayrettin Yücesoy, Washington University in St Louis

Han Hsien Liew's work stakes out new ground for the study of politics in Islam. Tabling the modernist focus on power for the intricate role of preaching--emotionally rich and morally challenging--in setting norms of rulership in Islam, it is a clarion call to take pietistic ideals seriously amidst Islam's hierarchies.--Paul Heck, Georgetown University

This book is an articulate rehabilitation of the Hanbali scholar and preacher Ibn al-Jawzi, undertaken through a careful examination of his political discourse and program of reform that was a response to the circumstances of the age. An essential read, the book is an eloquent attestation to the performative ethical and political power of hortatory disquisition, a perspective rarely attended to in the field.--Wael Hallaq, Columbia University