Islam and the Tyranny of Authenticity

An Inquiry into Disciplinary Apologetics and Self-Deception

by Aaron W. Hughes, University of Rochester

Many scholars of Islam are interested in creating a liberal, inclusive, pluralistic, feminist, and modern version of the religion that they believe to be explicit in the pages of the Qur’ān, but missed by earlier interpreters. In so doing, they create “good” Islam and, in the process, seek to define what does and does not get to count as authentic. As the purveyors of what they now believe to be veritable Islam, they subsequently claim that rival presentations are bastardizations based either on Orientalism and Islamophobia (if one is a non-Muslim) or misogyny and homophobia (if one is a Muslim that disagrees with them). Instead of engaging in critical scholarship, they engage in a constructive and theological project that they deceive themselves into thinking is both analytical and empirical. This book provides a hard-hitting examination of the spiritual motivations, rhetorical moves, and political implications associated with these apologetical discourses. It argues that what is at stake is relevance, and examines the consequences of engaging in mythopoesis as opposed to scholarship.

ISBN-13 (Hardback) 9781781792162
Price (Hardback) £60.00 / $80.00
ISBN-13 (Paperback) 9781781792179
Price (Paperback) £24.95 / $29.95
ISBN (eBook) 9781781792919
ISBN (ePub) Price (eBook) Individual £24.95 / $29.95
Institutional £60.00 / $80.00
Publication 01/01/2016
Pages 164
Size 234 x 156mm
Readership scholars; students

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Metadata

  • isbn
    9781781792919 (eBook)
    9781781792162 (Hardback)
    9781781792179 (Paperback)
  • publisher
    Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2016
  • publisher place
    Sheffield (U.K.)
  • rights holder
    Equinox Publishing Ltd.
  • doi