ISLAM: The Public and Private Spheres

ISLAM: The Public and Private Spheres is a landmark special issue of Social Research that brings together leading scholars, philosophers, historians, political scientists, and writers to examine how Islam shapes and negotiates the boundaries between public and private life.

Produced in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the volume explores the relationship between Islamic law, politics, gender, media, literature, identity, and civil society across the Muslim world. Rather than presenting a single perspective, it offers multidisciplinary analyses of privacy, authority, religious practice, state power, and cultural expression in countries such as Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

The issue combines academic essays with reflections on literature and culture, making it one of the most influential collections on Islam and the public sphere in contemporary scholarship.

Notable contributors

• Arien Mack
• Mohsen Kadivar
• Talal Asad
• Baber Johansen
• Nilüfer Göle
• Mehrangiz Kar
• Saba Mahmood
• Jon W. Anderson
• Geneive Abdo
• Hassan Mneimneh
• Azar Nafisi
• Hamid Dabashi
• Orhan Pamuk, among others.