Call for Papers: Islam and the category of "religion"

We are seeking papers on the theme of 'Islam and the category of "religion"' for the Summer 2019 issue of the semi-annual scholarly journal, Pakistan Journal of Historical Studies (PJHS), published by the Indiana University Press (Bloomington, USA).

Recent scholarship has historicised the concept of "religion" as it is used in contemporary popular, academic, and political discourse. Critics have called into question the usefulness and validity of a term developed in the context of post-Reformation Christianity and deeply entangled with the history of European colonialism, especially for the study of non-Western cultures. We seek papers that examine this question from the perspective of the study of Islam. Potential topics:

•   Is Islam a "religion", now or in the past?

•   Does the conception of Islam as a "religion" help or hinder our understanding of "Islamic art," "Islamic science," and "Islamic politics"?

•   How has Islam been constructed or governed as a "religion" in contemporary contexts?

•   How do indigenous concepts, such as dīn and īmān, compare to "religion"?

•   Did the diversity of peoples and communities within Islamic empires, or studied by Islamic scholars, require the development of concepts similar to "world religions"?