Idea of the Muslim World: A Global Intellectual History

The Idea of the Muslim World challenges the notion that the 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide constitute a single entity and explores its historical origins and the consequences of its enduring allure. It debunks the narrative that current unrest in the Middle East is a belated product of the fall of the Ottoman Empire and reveals how racial, civilizational, and political biases shape contemporary visions of the Muslim world.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 26 April 2019
Publisher: Harvard University Press

“Provocative… Aydin ranges over the centuries to show the relative novelty of the idea of a Muslim world and the relentless efforts to exploit that idea for political ends.” — Washington Post

When President Obama visited Cairo to address Muslims worldwide, he followed in the footsteps of countless politicians who have taken the existence of a unified global Muslim community for granted. But as Cemil Aydin explains in this provocative history, it is a misconception to think that the world's 1.5 billion Muslims constitute a single entity. How did this belief arise, and why is it so widespread?

The Idea of the Muslim World considers its origins and reveals the consequences of its enduring allure.

"Much of today's media commentary traces current trouble in the Middle East back to the emergence of 'artificial nation states after the fall of the Ottoman Empire... According to this narrative... today's unrest is simply a belated product of that mistake. The Idea of the Muslim World is a bracing rebuke to such simplistic conclusions." — Times Literary Supplement

"It is here that Aydin's book proves so valuable: by revealing how the racial, civilizational, and political biases that emerged in the nineteenth century shape contemporary visions of the Muslim world." — Foreign Affairs

Weight: 280g
Dimension: 139 x 209 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780674238176