Islamicate Cosmopolitan Spirit

An excellent work on Islamic history, its greatest strengths are: the level of theoretical discussion, the call to a reflection on terminology, the emphasis on post-15th century Islamic history and on geographical regions outside the Arab world.-Roberto Totolli, Universita degli Studi di Napoli L'Orientale Learned, inventive and highly perceptive? With an astounding energy, the six chapters, plus an overview and a conclusion, stretch boundaries of Muslim subjectivities and possibilities across time and space.-Babak Rahimi, UC San Diego In Islamicate Cosmopolitan Spirit, author Bruce B. Lawrence presents an original theory contending that the Islamicate Cosmopolitan marks a new turn in global history, exemplified by women as well as men, artists as well as scientists. The author challenges traditional categories-the 'Arab' Middle East and the Islamic profiles of both majority and minority Muslim nations-in his exploration of the impact of the Islamicate Cosmopolitan throughout the Afro-Eurasian world across time and space. To be Islamic in the 21st century may mean more than being a believer in Allah and a follower of Muhammad. Lawrence argues for the need to suspend the religious labeling of everyone a Muslim, or mislabeling all Muslims as Islamists, to find that other sphere of origin and influence. Throughout the text, readers gain a nuanced appreciation of not only the origins of the Islamicate Cosmopolitan, but also of its pursuit of truth and its aspiration to both beauty and justice. Islamicate Cosmopolitan Spirit projects a spiritual elan filtered through cultural practices, artefacts, and the civilized exchange between multiple groups with both competing yet convergent interests and ambitions. This unique monograph is essential reading for all students of Islamicate civilization, both traditional and progressive, as well as for readers with interest in disciplinary debates among historians in the field.