Religious community and nation have long been the chief poles of political and cultural identity for peoples of the modern Middle East. This work explores how men in turn-of-the-century Damascus dealt; in word and deed; with the dilemmas of identity that arose from the Ottoman Empire's 19th-century reforms. Muslim religious scholars (ulama) who advocated a return to scripture as the basis of social and political order were the pivotal group. The reformers clashed with their fellow ulama who defended the integrity of prevailing religious practices and beliefs. In addition to two conflicting interpretations of Islam; Arabism comprised a new strand of thought represented by young men with secular educations advancing Arab interests in the Ottoman Empire. Religious reformers and Arabists shared a political agenda that shifted focus from constitutionalism before 1908 to administrative decentralization shortly thereafter. Using unpublished manuscripts and correspondence; inheritance documents; and Ottoman-era periodicals; this work weaves together social; political; and intellectual aspects of a local history that represents an instance of a fundamental issue in modern history.
#2142337 in Books 1984-10-04Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.50 x 1.39 x 6.44l; #File Name: 0195034392374 pages
Review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. AwesomeBy intriguedI bought this after reading Davis' Slavery and Inhuman Bondage; and I am satisfied with both purchases. Davis likes to dwell on how slavery was compatible or contradictory to the concept of social and human progress; and how this concept differed throughout different periods. This is an excellent read for history students and those studying the history of slavery from the Ancient Mediterranean; to Western Europe; and in the New World.6 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Not for the casual readerBy Neal J. BurnsI picked up this book because of its compelling thesis about the shifting meaning of slavery in history. Unfortunately; I got about 1/6th of the way through it and I realized that it is a bit more scholarly than what I had imagined. I would not recommend it unless you either already have a fairly solid foundation in European and world history; or you are willing to put in the effort to acquire it while plodding through this book. The audience for this book is obviously other academic historians and advanced students thereof; not the general public.8 of 15 people found the following review helpful. The Enigma of AbolitionBy John C. LandonThis work could be taken as a reflection on and/or conclusion to the author's previous two well-known classic works on slavery and poses the paradox lurking in all ideas of progress applied to historical analysis. The book shows history's answer; one that historians perhaps fail to see. The place of the slavery is human history is so endemic that we are left with the question of why toward the end of the eighteenth century forces for its abolition appeared and within several generations more or less succeeded in its overcoming. It is not a question we should leave to the Hegels of this world; come on Historians.This book cogently addrresses the core issue and orbits around it; and would make a good ending to a perusal of the author's lead-up texts; along with some of the literature cited on the slavery debate; which the book reviews; to some extent. The idea of progress is out of fashion; which makes the issue seem less significant to postmodern indifference; yet the ambiguity here lingers as a challenge to our notions of 'what drives history'.In part; the paradoxes of historical progress springs from the inadequacy of our historiography which is either some teleological historicism or some derivative of the anti-progressivism of Darwinian evolution. In that context; the puzzle of slavery and abolition remains stubbornly mysterious. This work gives us a 'good question' whose answer would constitute a true 'universal history'.
