Islam’s ‘Others’: Living (Out)side Islam

Abstract

Until the 1970s, 'Islamic societies' were considered homogeneous, facsimiles of each other, founded on immutable religious precepts. This mystique simultaneously situated 'the Islamic world' in the realm of fancy and justified colonialist politics. Yet in recent decades, that approach has been disputed. New scholarship underlines that far from adhering to ordained laws, Muslims must meet earthly realities; far from replicating an ideal, societies with a predominant Muslim population comprise diversity and dissension.