Tradition, Myth, and Historical Fact in Contemporary Islam

Hirschkind, C. (2001)

Article / Letter to editor

Within scholarship on contemporary Islam, one of the issues that has generated considerable discussion (and often perplexity) concerns the accuracy or validity of Muslim historical claims. Many authors have pointed to a discrepancy between what Muslim activists today invoke as belonging to the traditions of Islam and the actual historical record of Islamic societies. It is argued that historical reality is ignored or rejected, while a false, distorted, or selective version of the past is affirmed in its place. In attempting to characterize and explain this use (or misuse) of history, scholars have had recourse to a variety of concepts, some of which merit a re-examination, especially in light of recent work within historiography. A brief review of these concepts suggests a need for new analytical approaches to the styles of historical argumentation prevalent within Islam today.

• Contemporary Islam

• All authors: Hirschkind, C.
• Date: 2001
• Journal: ISIM Newsletter
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 18 - 18
• Publisher: ISIM, Leiden