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Description of  Accusations of Unbelief in Islam: A Diachronic Perspective on Takfir

Edited by Camilla Adang, Tel Aviv University, Hassan Ansari, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, Maribel Fierro, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientficas, and Sabine Schmidtke, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. The present volumethe first of its kinddeals with takfr: accusing ones opponents of unbelief (kufr). Originating in the first decades of Islam, this practice has been applied intermittently ever since. The nineteen studies included here deal with cases, covering different periods and parts of the Muslim world, of individuals or groups that used the instrument of takfr to brand their opponentseither persons, groups or even institutionsas unbelievers who should be condemned, anathematized or even persecuted. Each case presented is placed in its sociopolitical and religious context. Together the contributions show the multifariousness that has always characterized Islam and the various ways in which Muslims either sought to suppress or to come to terms with this diversity. With contributions by: Roswitha Badry, Sonja Brentjes, Brian J. Didier, Michael Ebstein, Simeon Evstatiev, Ersilia Francesca, Robert Gleave, Steven Judd, Istvn T. Krist-Nagy, Gran Larsson, Amalia Levanoni, Orkhan Mir-Kasimov, Hossein Modarressi, Justyna Nedza, Intisar A. Rabb, Sajjad Rizvi, Daniel de Smet, Zoltan Szombathy, Joas Wagemakers. Biographical note Camilla Adang is Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Tel Aviv University. Her fields of specialization are interreligious contacts and classical Islamic thought. She has written extensively on Ibn azm and the hir school. Hassan Ansari is a member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. He focuses on the study of Islamic theology, philosophy, law, and legal theory. Maribel Fierro is Research Professor at the Centre of Human and Social Sciences at the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC Spain). Her research focuses on the religious and intellectual history of al-Andalus and the Islamic West, and on Islamic law. Sabine Schmidtke is Professor of Islamic Intellectual History at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. She has published extensively on Islamic and Jewish intellectual history. Her works include Theologie, Philosophie und Mystik im zwlferschiitischen Islam des 9./15. Jahrhunderts. Die Gedankenwelt des Ibn Ab Jumhr al-As (um 838/1434-35 - nach 906/1501) (Leiden 2000), and, together with Reza Pourjavady, A Jewish Philosopher of Baghdad. Izz al-Dawla Ibn Kammna and his Writings (Leiden 2006). Readership All interested in diversity within Islamic thought and practice and in the various ways in which Muslims in different periods and areas have dealt with this diversity