Disenchanting the Caliphate: The Secular Discipline of Power in Abbasid Political Thought

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Hayrettin Yücesoy

Disenchanting the Caliphate

The Secular Discipline of Power in Abbasid Political Thought

Hayrettin Yücesoy

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English

Columbia University Press
19 October 2023

Middle Eastern history; Western philosophy: Medieval & Renaissance, c 500 to c 1600; History of religion; Islam; Political science & theory

Series: Columbia Studies in International and Global History

"The political thought of Muslim societies is all too often defined in religious terms, in which the writings of clerics are seen as representative and ideas about governance are treated as an extension of commentary on sacred texts. Disenchanting the Caliphate offers a groundbreaking new account of political discourse in Islamic history by examining Abbasid imperial practice, illuminating the emergence and influence of a vibrant secular tradition.

Closely reading key eighth-century texts, Hayrettin Yücesoy argues that the ulema's discourse of religious governance and the political thought of lay intellectuals diverged during this foundational period, with enduring consequences. He traces how notions of good governance and reflections on prudent statecraft arose among cosmopolitan literati who envisioned governing as an art. Competent in nonreligious branches of knowledge and trained in administrative professions, these belletrists articulated and defended secular political practices, reimagining the caliphal realm as politically constituted rather than natural. They sought to improve administrative efficiency and bolster state control for an empire made up of diverse cultures. Their ideas about moral cultivation, temporal reasoning, and governmental rationality endured for centuries as a counterpoint to religious rulership. Drawing on this history, Yücesoy critiques the concept of ""Islamic political thought,"" calling for decolonizing debates about ""secular"" and ""religious"" politics.

Theoretically rich and historically grounded, Disenchanting the Caliphate is an insightful and provocative reconsideration of key strands of political discourse in the intellectual history of Muslim societies."

By: Hayrettin Yücesoy
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780231209410
ISBN 10: 023120941X
Series: Columbia Studies in International and Global History
Pages: 392
Publication Date: 19 October 2023
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Hayrettin Yücesoy is an associate professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at Washington University in St. Louis. His books include Messianic Beliefs and Imperial Politics in Medieval Islam: The Abbasid Caliphate in the Early Ninth Century (2009).

Reviews for Disenchanting the Caliphate: The Secular Discipline of Power in Abbasid Political Thought

Gibbon's flourish about 'Mahomet, sword in one hand, Koran in the other' long served as metonym for the diachronic Caliphate. Yucesoy provocatively but convincingly disputes whether 'Islamic political thought' was inflexibly Islamic. longside the religious scholars he highlights Umayyad and Abbasid bureaucrat-literati, who propounded ethical and managerial principles of governance. -- Garth Fowden, author of <i>Before and after Muhammad: The First Millennium refocused</i>