Islam and Asia
A History

An accessible, transregional exploration of how Islam and Asia have shaped each other's histories, societies and cultures from the seventh century to today.

Chiara Formichi (Author)

9781107513976, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 7 May 2020

348 pages, 14 b/w illus. 7 maps
22.8 x 15.3 x 1.7 cm, 0.57 kg

'Formichi here provides a wonderfully dynamic book. It is an innovative, pioneering historical survey; a well-designed, excellent textbook; and it is certainly adequate to serve as a concise reference book … It is a foundational work that points the way toward what could become a new generation of creative and urgently needed studies. Boxed key points, lists for further reading by chapter, a glossary, extensive citations and notes, and an analytic index round out this noteworthy volume.' G. R. Thursby, Choice

Chiara Formichi explores the ways in which Islam and Asia have shaped each other's histories, societies and cultures from the seventh century to today. Challenging the assumed dominance of the Middle East in the development of Islam, Formichi argues for Asia's centrality in the development of global Islam as a religious, social and political reality. Readers learn how and why Asia is central to the history of Islam, and vice versa, considering the impact of Asia's Muslims on Islam; and how Islam became an integral part of Asia, and its influence on local conceptions of power, the sciences, arts, and bureaucracy. Grounding her argument in specific case studies, Formichi ultimately concludes that the existence of Islamized interactions across Asia have allowed for multi-directional influences on Islamic practices and interpretations throughout the Muslim world.

Introduction
1. Islam across the Oxus (7th–17th centuries)
2. Becoming Muslim (7th–18th centuries
3. Networks and renewal (18th–19th centuries)
4. Pan-Islamism and nationalism (19th–20th centuries)
5. Muslims in the nation-state (1940s–1960s)
6. New imaginations of piety (1960s–1990s)
7. Islam as resistance
8. De-centering Islamic authority
9. Studying Asia and Islam.

Subject Areas: Islam [HRH], Asian history [HBJF]