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Reading Islam
Life and Politics of Brotherhood in Modern Turkey
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In Reading Islam Fabio Vicini offers a journey within the intimate relations, reading practices, and forms of intellectual engagement that regulate Muslim life in two enclosed religious communities in Istanbul. Combining anthropological observation with textual and genealogical analysis, he illustrates how the modes of thought and social engagement promoted by these two communities are the outcome of complex intellectual entanglements with modern discourses about science, education, the self, and Muslimsâ place and responsibility in society. In this way, Reading Islam sheds light on the formation of new generations of faithful and socially active Muslims over the last thirty years and on their impact on the turn of Turkey from an assertive secularist Republic to an Islamic-oriented form of governance.
Fabio Vicini is Senior Researcher in Anthropology at the University of Verona. He specializes in the study of Islam, secularism, and society, with a focus on Turkey and Italy. In the past, he has taught and conducted research at Istanbul 29 Mayis University, the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies, and TÃBITAK. His work has appeared, among other places, in the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Culture and Religion, and Anthropology & Education Quarterly.
âFor the better part of a century, Turkey has been a major center of intellectual, educational, and ethical reform in modern Islam. In this vividly written and theoretically sophisticated book, Fabio Vicini takes readers through a reading of the two most foundational currents in that reform movement, and shows their deep relevance for education, ethics, and civility in the broader Muslim world. This is a must-read book for all students of Islamic affairs.â
Robert W. Hefner, Pardee School of Global Affairs, Boston University
âFabio Viciniâs Reading Islam is both methodologically careful and theoretically insightful, reflecting the best qualities of ethnographic writing on the social life of Islam in Turkey. Vicini describes in rich detail the forms of piety and intellectual development encouraged in religious communities active in Turkey. It is certainly refreshing to read an analysis of religious practice that takes seriously the practitionersâ orientation toward transcendence in developing religious knowledge and ethical reasoning.â
Kim Shiveley, Kutztown University
âThis perceptive study of brotherhood, ethics and self-disciplining in religious communities focused on reading Said Nursiâs Risale-i Nur draws attention to aspects of religious tradition hitherto neglected in studies of Turkish Islam. Viciniâs thoughtful analysis engages critically with a large body of contemporary social theory and provides essential new insight into the interiorizing practices of these communities and Islamic piety in general, offering a sympathetic understanding of Muslim life in modern Turkey.â
Martin van Bruinessen, Comparative Study of Contemporary Muslim Societies, Utrecht University
Robert W. Hefner, Pardee School of Global Affairs, Boston University
âFabio Viciniâs Reading Islam is both methodologically careful and theoretically insightful, reflecting the best qualities of ethnographic writing on the social life of Islam in Turkey. Vicini describes in rich detail the forms of piety and intellectual development encouraged in religious communities active in Turkey. It is certainly refreshing to read an analysis of religious practice that takes seriously the practitionersâ orientation toward transcendence in developing religious knowledge and ethical reasoning.â
Kim Shiveley, Kutztown University
âThis perceptive study of brotherhood, ethics and self-disciplining in religious communities focused on reading Said Nursiâs Risale-i Nur draws attention to aspects of religious tradition hitherto neglected in studies of Turkish Islam. Viciniâs thoughtful analysis engages critically with a large body of contemporary social theory and provides essential new insight into the interiorizing practices of these communities and Islamic piety in general, offering a sympathetic understanding of Muslim life in modern Turkey.â
Martin van Bruinessen, Comparative Study of Contemporary Muslim Societies, Utrecht University
Acknowledgments
Note on Transliteration and Turkish Pronunciation
Introduction: Reading Islam in Modern Times
â1âReading is Transcending
â2âAccommodating Modernity
â3âThinking Islam
â4âA Revival of Muslim Civility
â5âFieldwork in Two Concealed Communities
â6âBefore and after July 15
â7âOutline of the Book
1 Outreaches of Religious Service
â1âReading the Risale
â2âReforming Society through Educational Service
â3âFrom Hizmet to Individual Duty
â4âModernity and the Displacement of Islamic Ethics
â5âThe Islamic Revival, Urban Life and Community
2 Living the Brotherhood
â1âDaily Life in the Houses
â2âDiscipline and Prayer
â3âTime and Prayer
â4âLiving by Example
â5âBrotherhood between Pedagogy and Authority
â6âBrotherhood between Civility and Corporate Personality
â7âVirtues of Mutuality
â8âLiving Sincerity
3 Reading, Reflection and the Search for Transcendence
â1âAppealing to the Imagination
â2âIterative Reading
â3âReading as Cultural Practice
â4âGenealogies of Reflection
â5âToward a Sufi Cosmology
â6âReflecting on Death
4 Putting Islam to Work
â1âEducation, the Nation and the Islamic âEthosâ
â2âAccessing Quality Education
â3âModern Times, Docile Methods
â4âFrom Jihad to Reforming Society
â5âLife and Tutoring in the Gülen Housings
â6âRomanticizing Prophethood
â7âLearning by Example
â8âEmbodying Responsibility
5 Politics of Brotherhood
â1ââYouâll Be of Service to This Countryâ
â2âThe Nur Selfâs Spaces of Will and Freedom
â3âThe Relativity of the Good: On the Modern Liberal Conception of the Self
â4âBeing an Aware and Responsible Muslim
â5âOn Brotherhood and Moral Reasoning
Conclusion
References
Index
Note on Transliteration and Turkish Pronunciation
Introduction: Reading Islam in Modern Times
â1âReading is Transcending
â2âAccommodating Modernity
â3âThinking Islam
â4âA Revival of Muslim Civility
â5âFieldwork in Two Concealed Communities
â6âBefore and after July 15
â7âOutline of the Book
1 Outreaches of Religious Service
â1âReading the Risale
â2âReforming Society through Educational Service
â3âFrom Hizmet to Individual Duty
â4âModernity and the Displacement of Islamic Ethics
â5âThe Islamic Revival, Urban Life and Community
2 Living the Brotherhood
â1âDaily Life in the Houses
â2âDiscipline and Prayer
â3âTime and Prayer
â4âLiving by Example
â5âBrotherhood between Pedagogy and Authority
â6âBrotherhood between Civility and Corporate Personality
â7âVirtues of Mutuality
â8âLiving Sincerity
3 Reading, Reflection and the Search for Transcendence
â1âAppealing to the Imagination
â2âIterative Reading
â3âReading as Cultural Practice
â4âGenealogies of Reflection
â5âToward a Sufi Cosmology
â6âReflecting on Death
4 Putting Islam to Work
â1âEducation, the Nation and the Islamic âEthosâ
â2âAccessing Quality Education
â3âModern Times, Docile Methods
â4âFrom Jihad to Reforming Society
â5âLife and Tutoring in the Gülen Housings
â6âRomanticizing Prophethood
â7âLearning by Example
â8âEmbodying Responsibility
5 Politics of Brotherhood
â1ââYouâll Be of Service to This Countryâ
â2âThe Nur Selfâs Spaces of Will and Freedom
â3âThe Relativity of the Good: On the Modern Liberal Conception of the Self
â4âBeing an Aware and Responsible Muslim
â5âOn Brotherhood and Moral Reasoning
Conclusion
References
Index
All interested in the study of Islam and Society in the Middle East. In particular, students and faculty of programs in Middle Eastern Studies, Religious Studies, Sociology and Anthropology.