Sacred Reason and Epistemic Resistance Usulism and Modernity in Iran and Beyond

1.           Introduction

2.           Colonial Hegemony and Autonomy of Multiple Modernities

3.           Shi’ism and Islamic Revolution

4.           Usuli Rationalism and Revival of Ijtihad

5.           Usuli Ijtihad and its Political Trajectory

6.           Neo-Usulism and Modernity in Qajar Iran

7.           Usuli Modernity and Iranian Politics

8.           Resurgence of Modern Shi’ism

9.           Transnationalism of Usuli Movement

10.         Rubik’s Cube

Biography

Khairunnisa Aga is Senior Lecturer of Political Science at the Government Department of Education, Jammu and Kashmir.

“This study of Usulism as both an epistemic resistance and an intellectual movement within Shi‘i Islam makes a distinctive contribution on two fronts: it provides a rigorous account of Usulism while simultaneously offering a critique of Eurocentric frameworks. Khairunnisa Aga's wonderful work is as intellectually stimulating as it is persuasive and will prove an invaluable resource for those engaged with the history of intellectual movements within Shi'i Islam and with Islamic reformist thought more broadly. It is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand contemporary representations of Islam.”

Liyakat Takim Ph.D

Department of Religious Studies,

McMaster University, Canada

“The book advances an original thesis by presenting Shi’i Usuli rationalism as an indigenous form of modernity, challenging Eurocentric paradigms. Drawing on insights from Edward Said, it reconceptualises modernity as plural and positions ijtihad as a dynamic framework of ethical reasoning and human agency in contemporary global discourse.”

Professor Noor Ahmad Baba

Political Science

Former Dean, School of Social Sciences

Kashmir & Central University of Kashmir