Faisal Devji on the crisis of 'global Islam' in Turkey and elsewhere

About this episode

Faisal Devji discusses the transformation of Islam into a modern ideological system and its implications for political Islam in Turkey and beyond.

Faisal Devji, professor of global and imperial history at Balliol College, Oxford, on “Waning Crescent: The Rise and Fall of Global Islam” (Yale University Press) The book argues that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Islam stopped being primarily a religious movement focused on scripture and the divine, instead transforming into a modern ideological system like capitalism or communism. In countries including Turkey, that process paved the intellectual path for Islamism’s emergence as a political force, reshaping the trajectories of those countries. However, it also suggests that the limits of this transnational moment were reached long ago, and that we are now seeing the results of a crisis of political Islam in Turkey and elsewhere. Please support Turkey Book Talk on Patreon or Substack. Supporters get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published by Bloomsbury Academic, transcripts of every interview, and links to articles related to each episode. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2998854&fan_landing=true Substack: https://turkeybooktalk.substack.com/

People in this episode

Host: William Armstrong

Guest: Faisal Devji

Topics covered

• global Islam
• political Islam
• Islamism
• Turkey
• historical transformation
• ideological systems

Keywords

• global Islam
• political Islam
• Islamism
• Turkey
• historical context
• ideological systems
• Faisal Devji

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Balliol College, Yale University Press

Books & works: Waning Crescent: The Rise and Fall of Global Islam

Places: Turkey

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