Accusations of Unbelief in Islam ─ A Diachronic Perspective on Takfir

The present volume offers nineteen studies of takfir: accusations of unbelief, covering different periods and parts of the Muslim world.Takfir was and is an effective instrument to delegitimize one's opponents, who may face social exclusion or even persecution.

Camilla Adang is Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Tel Aviv University. Her fields of specialization are interreligious contacts and classical Islamic thought. She has written extensively on Ibn ?azm and the ?ahiri school.Hassan Ansari is a member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. He focuses on the study of Islamic theology, philosophy, law, and legal theory.Maribel Fierro is Research Professor at the Centre of Human and Social Sciences at the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC – Spain). Her research focuses on the religious and intellectual history of al-Andalus and the Islamic West, and on Islamic law. Sabine Schmidtke is Professor of Islamic Intellectual History at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. She has published extensively on Islamic and Jewish intellectual history. Her works includeTheologie, Philosophie und Mystik im zwolferschiitischen Islam des 9./15. Jahrhunderts. Die Gedankenwelt des Ibn Abi Jumhur al-A?sa?i (um 838/1434-35 - nach 906/1501) (Leiden 2000), and, together with Reza Pourjavady,A Jewish Philosopher of Baghdad. ?Izz al-Dawla Ibn Kammuna and his Writings (Leiden 2006).