Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T11:48:02.684Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Discussion of Wael Hallaq's Islam, Politics, and Modernity's Moral Predicament

Review products

The Impossible State: Islam, Politics, and Modernity’s Moral Predicament. By Hallaq Wael B.. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012. 272p. $37.50 cloth.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2014

Abstract

In his new book The Impossible State: Islam, Politics, and Modernity’s Moral Predicament, Wael B. Hallaq argues that “‘The Islamic State,’ judged by any standard definition of what the modern state represents, is both an impossibility and a contradiction in terms.” In developing this argument Hallaq draws upon his extensive body of work as a scholar of Islam, including most notably his Shari’a: Theory, Practice, Transformations (Cambridge University Press, 2009). At the same time, Hallaq contributes to debates in political theory about the nature of the modern state. As part of our new “Undisciplined” format, this symposium seeks to bring a range of disciplinary perspectives into a discussion of this timely and important argument. We have invited a number of scholars from different intellectual backgrounds to share their views on the book as a contribution to the understanding of modern Islam, and also to reflect on how this work adds to our understanding of the relationship between religion and politics.

Type
Review Symposium: The Impossible State
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)