Description
Book SynopsisThe values of traditionalist Islam are often portrayed as inherently hostile to those of a modern, pluralistic society. This book shatters many of these stereotypes. Jonah Blank provides a first-hand account of the Daudi Bohra to show how a premodern clerical elite has embraced modernity.
Trade Review"This is a groundbreaking work.... This brilliant study is both academically rigorous and a welcome introduction to the real success of this Islamic community in the modern world. Highly recommended." - Library Journal; "[A] model piece of scholarship, the kind of work you want to give to younger scholars so as to awaken them to the wonders and the variety of the world.... Here is one brilliant venture by a young, superbly trained American social scientist who delves into the world of Indian Muslims, and renders that world with artistry, precision, and detail." - Fouad Ajami, author of Dream Palace of the Arabs: A Generation's Odyssey; "[Blank's] book should be read for his portrait of a group trying to carve out a place for their practices while maintaining peaceful relations with religious activists and secularists alike, a delicate tightrope act that he chronicles well." - John R. Bowen, Washington Post Book World
