Polymaths of Islam: Power and Networks of Knowledge in Central Asia
James Pickett
Abstract
This book analyzes the social and intellectual power of religious leaders who created a shared culture that integrated Central Asia, Iran, and India from the mid-eighteenth century through to the early twentieth century. The book demonstrates that Islamic scholars were simultaneously mystics and administrators, judges and occultists, physicians and poets. This integrated understanding of the world of Islamic scholarship unlocks a different way of thinking about transregional exchange networks. The book reveals a Persian-language cultural sphere that transcended state boundaries and integrated ... More
This book analyzes the social and intellectual power of religious leaders who created a shared culture that integrated Central Asia, Iran, and India from the mid-eighteenth century through to the early twentieth century. The book demonstrates that Islamic scholars were simultaneously mystics and administrators, judges and occultists, physicians and poets. This integrated understanding of the world of Islamic scholarship unlocks a different way of thinking about transregional exchange networks. The book reveals a Persian-language cultural sphere that transcended state boundaries and integrated a spectacularly vibrant Eurasia that is invisible from published sources alone. Through a high-cultural complex that the book terms the “Persian cosmopolis” or “Persianate sphere,” it argues, an intersection of diverse disciplines shaped geographical trajectories across and between political states. The book paints a comprehensive, colorful, and often contradictory portrait of mosque and state in the age of empire.
Keywords:
intellectual power,
social power,
religious leaders,
Central Asia,
Iran,
India,
Islamic scholars,
Eurasia
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2020 |
Print ISBN-13: 9781501750243 |
| Published to Cornell Scholarship Online: May 2021 |
DOI:10.7591/cornell/9781501750243.001.0001 |
