This forum on SherAli Tareen’s landmark study, Defending Muhammad in Modernity, illuminates several key terms in the study of religion in the modern world: sovereignty, political theology, and the secular (as both a mode of governance and a form of life). The forum also addresses the following analytical issues: how to read the dialogue of discourse and practice; how to contextualize ideas and rituals without reinforcing historicism; and how to pursue cross-cultural translation of concepts.

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Forum Introduction

Contributors

Traditions and Tensions: Islam in Modern South Asia, Ali Altaf Mian
University of Florida 

Beyond Mosque and Madrasa: Everyday Theology in Islam, Kecia Ali
Boston University 

A/Synchronicity: Text and Context in Tareen’s Defending Muhammad in Modernity, Noah Salomon
University of Virginia 

Doctrinal Debates in Islam: Beyond Binaries, Megan Eaton Robb
University of Pennsylvania

Political Theologies: Islam and the Nation-State, Mashal Saif
Clemson University

Sovereignty and Secularism in Modern Islam: A Response, SherAli Tareen
Franklin and Marshall College