x

Front Cover

Back Cover

Religion, Orientalism and Modernity: Mahdi Movements of Iran and South Asia

Author:Geoffrey Nash
ISBN:9789395474085
Binding:Hardcover
Year:2026
Pages:344
Size:16 x 24 cm
Price:INR2195.00
FORTHCOMING

About the Book
Analyses modernity and Orientalist discourses in Iranian millenarian movements.

• Employs historical and discourse analysis to probe the conflict between orthodox and heterodox religious movements in 19th- and 20th-century Iran.
• Links the conflict between orthodoxy and heterodoxy to the impact of modernity on Iran’s society and religion and to colonisation on India’s Muslims.
• Broadens the scope of this conflict to include Palestine, Central Asia and Turkey.
• Presents a postcolonial analysis of the new movements and their broader relationship to the Islamic world during the age of imperialism.

Religion, Orientalism and Modernity explores the emergence of the revolutionary Babis and reformist Baha’is and their conflict with mainstream Shi’a Muslims in Iran, and of the parallel Ahmadi movement in North India. It gives fresh insights into the writings that defined these innovatory movements, penned on the one hand by their proponents, and on the other by western interpreters.
Comparing these movements shows that, together, they define important aspects of Islamic modernity. A focus on two case studies (Babis and Baha’is in Iran, and Ahmadis in India) reveals similarities and differences in their responses to a perceived need for change and renewal of religious authority.

About the Author
Geoffrey Nash

Formerly Associate Professor at the University of Qatar and Research Associate at the School of African and Oriental Studies. He works in the areas of Postcolonial Studies, Travel Writing, Arab Anglophone and Muslim writing. Among the many books he has authored/edited are: Orientalism and Literature (Cambridge University Press, 2019), Marmaduke Pickthall, Islam and the Modern World (Brill, 2017), Writing Muslim Identity (Continuum, 2012), Comte de Gobineau and Orientalism (Routledge, 2009) and From Empire to Orient: Travellers to the Middle East (I.B. Tauris, 2005).
Editorial Reviews



“Nash has written an interesting account of the complex entanglement of three very distinct nineteenth-century Islamic reform movements that reflects on Western Orientalist thought in the context of the asymmetric power relations with European imperialism.”
—Dietrich Jung, Die Welt Des Islams
“This book represents a valuable contribution to the study of the Bahai faith and the Ahmadiyya movement, as well as a detailed analysis of minority movements’ adoption of the coloniser’s discourse on modernity and Islam.”
—Dr Reza Zia-Ebrahimi, Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor of History, King's College London
“Nash is to be commended for presenting an eloquently written and carefully considered study that is rooted in a postcolonial reading of foundational orientalist texts...Religion, Orientalism and Modernity demands a careful reading and will undoubtedly be rewarding for scholars who will appreciate a non-polemical postcolonial analysis of the Ahmadi, Babi, and Baha’i movements.”
—Amir Dastmalchian, The Muslim World Book Review
Customer Reviews
Stars
ADD REVIEW




Review Title

Review

Reviewer Name

Email


Sanctum Books
SANCTUM BOOKS
68 Medical Association Road
Darya Ganj
New Delhi-110002
INDIA


SOCIAL MEDIA

Facebook Instagram X


POWERED BY

Payment Gateway
Copyright © 2026 SANCTUM BOOKS. All rights reserved.
Website developed by WEBNET INTERNATIONAL