Modern Muslims and Jahiliyya: Mapping Secular Spaces through an Islamic Notion of Time, Place, Ignorance, and Otherness

Abstract For early Muslims, Islam created a temporal rupture: jāhiliyya signified pre-Islamic Arabia and the ignorance and intemperance associated with it. In the twentieth century, Islamic reformists recast jāhiliyya as a form of dissent against the empty spaces and measured time of secularism, sharply distinguishing secular spaces from Islam, with a particular focus on nationalism as a threat to Islam and the sovereignty of God. Specifying some of these historical configurations of jāhiliyya allows us to recognize their traces among modern Muslims of South Asian background living in the US and the UK, including articulations of otherness and jāhiliyya in Salman Rushdie’s (in)famous novel Satanic Verses . Exploring meanings of jāhiliyya can deepen our understanding of how Muslims makes themselves at home in the modern world.