Religion before the Academy: Jonathan Z. Smith, Eurocentrism, and Muslim Demarcations of Religion
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Abstract
Following Jonathan Z. Smith’s influential work, scholars in the academy have affirmed that religion (as a demarcated object) is a Western construct that did not exist prior to the European Enlightenment. This analysis argues that scholars have neglected data that refutes this conclusion. Perhaps informed by a Eurocentric bias, scholars have neglected premodern Muslim demarcations of religion or, in other instances, reduced the matter to a debate over how to translate the Arabic term dīn. This analysis remedies these errors and proceeds beyond the issue of translation. Rather, it emphasizes data from the administration and religious toleration policies of the caliphates, as well as the scholarship of Ibn Ḥazm, al-Bīrūnī, and al-Shahrastānī during this period. In doing so, the existence of Muslim demarcations of religion becomes evident. This evidence raises serious questions about oversights and Eurocentrism in the academy’s prevailing theoretical discourses and the rationale behind what is recognized as relevant data.