Preaching Pious Rulership in Medieval Islam: Ibn al-Jawzi's Political Thought

Han Hsien Liew
Hardback, 320 pages
9781399511292

Ibn al-Jawzi's Political Thought

This book studies the relationship between political thought, preaching and emotions through the writings of Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 1201), a celebrated hortatory preacher in late Abbasid Baghdad. Through an intertextual analysis of Ibn al-Jawzi’s works in various genres, this book details how his ideal form of rulership reflected the emotional norms and pietistic moral virtues promoted in Muslim hortatory sermons. It also examines the emotional strategies deployed in his efforts to reform the rulers of his time. In highlighting the importance of piety in Ibn al-Jawzi’s political discourses, the book points to a new reading of the history of Islamic political thought that, rather than foregrounding order and military prowess, considers competing political languages among medieval Muslim intellectuals. In doing so, it calls for the need to rethink notions of ‘politics’ and the ‘political’ when studying Islam.

Contents
Introduction: Piety and Emotions in Medieval Islamic Political Thought
Part I. Historical and Intellectual Background
1. Politics and Society in Late Abbasid Baghdad
2. The Life and Career of In al-Jawzi
3. Intellectual Trends in Late Abbasid Political Thought
Part II. Conceptualising Ideal Islamic Rulership
4. Homiletic Piety: Moral Virtues and Emotional Norms
5. Embodying Homiletic Piety: Ibn al-Jawzi's Biographies of Caliphs
Part III. An Ameliorative Approach to Politics
6. Legitimising Politics: Ibn al-Jawzi's Reassessment of Ruler-Scholar Relations
7. 'I Put My Fear for You before My Fear of You': Talattuf (Tact) as a Mode of Political Engagement
8. The Cursing of Yazid ibn Mu'awiya: Debating Rebellion against Sinful and Unjust Rulers
Conclusion: Redefining the Political