The 'Ulama in Contemporary Pakistan by Mashal Saif - 9781108839730

The 'Ulama in Contemporary PakistanContesting and Cultivating an Islamic Republic\nAuthor(s): Mashal Saif\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom\nImprint: Cambridge University Press\nISBN-13: 9781108839730, 978-1108839730\nSynopsis\nIn this book, MashalSaif explores how contemporary 'ulama, the guardians of religious knowledge and law, engage with the world's most populated Islamic nation-state: Pakistan. In mapping these engagements, she weds rigorous textual analysis with fieldwork and offers insight into some of the most significant and politically charged issues in recent Pakistani history. These include debates over the rights of women; the country's notorious blasphemy laws; the legitimacy of religiously mandated insurrection against the state; sectarian violence; and the place of Shi'as within the Sunni majority nation. These diverse case studies are knit together by the project's most significant contribution: a theoretical framework that und.