Another Road to Damascus: An Integrative Approach to 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri (1808-1883)

Tom Woerner-Powell

Published by De Gruyter 2017

Another Road to Damascus

An Integrative Approach to 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri (1808-1883)

Tom Woerner-Powell

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110499513

Overview
Contents

About this book

Winner of the BRAIS-prize 2016

This text challenges existing writing on ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Jazā'irī which divides his life into two juxtaposed phases separated by narratives of conversion: from Francophobia to Francophilia, from militarism to pacifism, from activism to quietism, from Islamism to pluralism, from politics to religion. This work's interdisciplinary approach demonstrates that these narratives cannot be sustained in light of the evidence. Rather, they can be shown to originate in specific historical, cultural, and methodological tendencies within western societies and academies. Drawing on primary materials including archival documents and selections from his own writing, it constructively critiques his reception in the literature while advancing a continuous and contextualised account of his life and ideas. These include the relating of his ethico-religious and jurisprudential concerns to his political decision-making, and a resituating of his mystical writings within a definite moral, epistemological, and political context. By problematising these interpretive issues, this thesis aims at opening new avenues for understanding even as it offers its own solutions. In so doing, this study contributes to discussions on Sufism, political Islam, and east-west relations.

This monograph has been awarded the annual BRAIS – De Gruyter Prize in the Study of Islam and the Muslim World.

Author / Editor information

Tom Woerner-Powell, Manchester, UK.

Reviews

"The study throws new light on this character's intentions, ambitions, and limitations ... it offers a re-evaluation of his life that integrates the various facets and stages of his career, resulting in ' a more conventional, more conservative, more human figure' of the man."
Zahia Smail Salhi in: British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (2019): 684-685 (https://doi.org/10.1080/13530194.2019.1627049)

"Woerner-Powell ist eines der unverzichtbaren Referenzwerke, wenn es darum geht, etwas über ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jazāˀirī zu schreiben."
Rüdiger Lohlker in: Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 108 (2018): 459-460

"Another Road to Damascus is a well-written, accessible, and overall compelling account of ʿAbd al-Qādir’s life and deeds. It is an excellent introductory and reference work for the classroom that also raises intriguing questions about entanglements between political interests and historical scholarship in appraising the life of a prominent individual. [...] undoubtedly the most accomplished biography of ʿAbd al-Qādir to date.

Ulrich Brandenburg in: Asiatische Studien - Études Asiatiques (2022): 171-174
(https://doi.org/10.1515/asia-2022-0015)

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Foreword Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	2
1.0 Chapter One – Sīrah Sayfiyyah: ʿAbd al-Qādir in North Africa, 1833–1848 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
2.0 Chapter Two – ʿAbd al-Qādir’s Risālah on Hijrah Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	62
3.0 Chapter Three – Exile and Imprisonment on the Road to Damascus; 1848–1852 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
4.0 Chapter Four – From Istanbul to Damascus, 1853–1864 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	120
5.0 Chapter Five – Sīrah Ṣūfiyyah: Sufism, Suspicion, and the Kitāb al-Mawāqif; 1864–1883 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
6.0 Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	198
Afterword Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Bibliography – Archival Sources Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227
Appendix A – ʿAbd al-Qādir’s Risālah on Hijrah Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
Appendix B – ʿAbd al-Qādir’s Mawqif #254 (‘He Is [Like] That’) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	255
Author Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	259

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Scholars of religious studies, Islamic studies and history
Pages
- Front matter: 6
- Main content: 254
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 10
Keywords: Sufism; Political Islam; Intercultural

eBook

Published: April 10, 2017
ISBN: 9783110499513

Hardcover

Published: April 10, 2017
ISBN: 9783110496994

Paperback

Published: November 19, 2018
ISBN: 9783110500554