Status Updates From Politics, Law, and Communit...

contra Lapidus, the Abbasid-era development of the ulema's authority with the caliph's patronage can't be seen as secularization but rather as a compromise where the ummah maintains political authority thru legal theory whilst the caliph obtains political authority as long as he abides by the ummah (or rather by fiqh)

Finished the pdf copy.

Not an easy read as stated before, one should have a solid background on classical Islamic history and scholarly works to understand the author's synthesis. I'm nearing the end of the first chapter, the only copy I have is a pdf format, hopefully I can avail the acutal copy of the book.

So far, I'm still on the introduction part. The author's synthesis requires further deep thought, it is not an easy read. But in hindsight, once I was able to absorb the synthesis, some of the events which for the time being are not yet clear, would make me, as a reader understand the current political and religious situation happening in the Muslim world: which is not something new looking back at history.