Includes bibliographical references and index Introduction: Dichotomies, transformations, and continuities in the study of Islam Islamic texts : the anthropologist as reader Textual aspects of religious authority in premodern Islam What to do with ritual texts : Islamic Fiqh texts and the study of Islamic ritual Textual study of gender Scholarship on gender politics in the Muslim world Power, orthodoxy, and salvation in classical Islamic theology Dialectical theology in the search for modern Islam "Classical" Islamic legal theory as ideology : Nasr Abu Zayd's study of al-Shafi'i's al-Risala Islamic law in the modern world : Sufi networks, hospitality, and translocal inclusivity Middle eastern studies and Islam : oscillations and tensions in an old relationship | 
