FAITH AND WORLD

CONTEMPORARY ISMAILI SOCIAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHT

Faith and World illustrates how a modern Muslim group interacts successfully with Western liberal modernity on the basis of shared ethics like democracy, pluralism, and education.

It is the first comprehensive study of contemporary Ismailism.

Faith and World explores how contemporary Ismaili institutions articulate the ethics of the Qur'an using the language of modern liberal discourse.

The Ismailis are a transnational Muslim community headed by the 49th Ismaili Imam, Aga Khan IV, who views liberal pluralism as parallelling the tenets of ethical Islamic living in the present day.

Contemporary Ismaili thought views the Ismaili tradition as connected to a historical past deriving from Qur'anic principles and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and his heirs, the Shi`a Imams. Thus, contemporary Ismailism's focus on liberal values like democracy, pluralism, and education are seen as contemporary forms of eternal Qur'anic ethical principles.

Faith and World furthers Western understandings of Islam, a key to overcoming misconceptions about the interconnected relationships between today's converging civilisations.