Redefining the Muslim Community: Ethnicity, Religion, and Politics in the Thought of Alfarabi

by Alexander Orwin

Overview

Writing 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.

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. Redefining the Muslim Community 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780812249040
Publisher:	University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication date:	05/02/2017
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Alexander Orwin teaches political science at Louisiana State University.

Table of Contents

A Note on Citations and Abbreviations vii

Introduction. Alfarabi and the Question of the Umma (Nation) 1

Chapter 1 The Nation in Plato and Aristotle: An Obstacle to Virtuous Rule 15

Chapter 2 From Speechlessness to Civilization: The Evolution of the Umma 45

Chapter 3 Philosophy and the Umma: An Uneasy Coexistence 66

Chapter 4 Another Kind of Umma: The Origin of the Islamic Umma 86

Chapter 5 The Mission of the Virtuous Umma: Ethnic Accommodation Within Islam 113

Chapter 6 Between City and Empire: The Political Significance of the Umma 136

Chapter 7 The Umma Among the Ignorant Associations: Nationalism and the Threat of War 174

Conclusion. The Intermediate Association 201

Notes 207

Works Cited 233

Index of Proper Names 243

Index of Subjects 246

Acknowledgments 249

Editorial Reviews

"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."

author of Politics and Excellence: The Politic Miriam Galston

"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."

University of Dallas Joshua Parens

"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."

Universityof Dallas Joshua Parens

"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 Politics and Excellence: The Political Philosophy of Alfarabi

From the Publisher