Argues that Islam's cultural stasis is not due to the Muslim faith itself, but to the nature of the sacred it is infused with and that penetrates every aspect of life - spiritual and material. This book shows how the sacred in Islam suspends the acceleration of social time, hinders change, and circumvents secularization and modernity.
Diner sets out to describe why the Arab world changes so slowly, in this controversial but refreshingly un-Anglo-Saxon search for answers to some outsized questions."--(Michael Cook, Princeton University).
"This book makes an exceptionally important contribution to our understanding of the Muslim world. . . . It can be highly recommended."
---Mia Roth, European Legacy
