{"product_id":"redefining-the-muslim-community-ethnicity-religion-and-politics-in-the-thought-of-alfarabi-hardback-9780812249040","title":"Redefining the Muslim Community; Ethnicity, Religion, and Politics in the Thought of Alfarabi (Hardback) 9780812249040","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eRedefining the Muslim Community\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eEthnicity, Religion, and Politics in the Thought of Alfarabi\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eAlexander Orwin (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780812249040\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 2 May 2017\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e264 pages\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.666 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\"Alexander Orwin combines extraordinary linguistic skills with a finely tuned knowledge of political philosophy which he uses to cast new light on Alfarabi's concept of Umma, and to reveal and explore the core of his teaching.\" (Joshua Parens, University of Dallas) \"This is an ambitious book. Alexander Orwin transforms Alfarabi's abstract works into rich and evocative characterizations of the dilemmas posed by the social, ethnic, and political forces of his time.\" (Miriam Galston, author of \u003ci\u003ePolitics and Excellence: The Political Philosophy of Alfarabi\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eWriting in the cosmopolitan metropolis of Baghdad, Alfarabi (870-950) is unique in the history of premodern political philosophy for his extensive discussion of the nation, or Umma in Arabic. The term Umma may be traced back to the Qur'ān and signifies, then and now, both the Islamic religious community as a whole and the various ethnic nations of which that community is composed, such as the Turks, Persians, and Arabs. Examining Alfarabi's political writings as well as parts of his logical commentaries, his book on music, and other treatises, Alexander Orwin contends that the connections and tensions between ethnic and religious Ummas explored by Alfarabi in his time persist today in the ongoing political and cultural disputes among the various nationalities within Islam.\u003cbr\u003e According to Orwin, Alfarabi strove to recast the Islamic Umma as a community in both a religious and cultural sense, encompassing art and poetry as well as law and piety. By proposing to acknowledge and accommodate diverse Ummas rather than ignoring or suppressing them, Alfarabi anticipated the contemporary concept of \"Islamic civilization,\" which emphasizes culture at least as much as religion. Enlisting language experts, jurists, theologians, artists, and rulers in his philosophic enterprise, Alfarabi argued for a new Umma that would be less rigid and more creative than the Muslim community as it has often been understood, and therefore less inclined to force disparate ethnic and religious communities into a single mold. \u003ci\u003eRedefining the Muslim Community\u003c\/i\u003e demonstrates how Alfarabi's judicious combination of cultural pluralism, religious flexibility, and political prudence could provide a blueprint for reducing communal strife in a region that continues to be plagued by it today.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52702058873112,"sku":"9780812249040","price":40.76,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/redefining-the-muslim-community-ethnicity-religion-and-politics-in-the-thought-of-alfarabi-hardback-9780812249040","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}