This book examines modernization by synthesizing social theory with specific historical examples from the Muslim world. By illustrating this theoretical framework, the author argues against the equation of this change with Westernization. In contrast to the assumptions of homogeneity and linearity conceived by classical theories, this work views modernization as a multifaceted, contingent process. In this way, the author seeks to present Islamic history, traditionally overshadowed by Eurocentric narratives, as an inherent part of global transformation.

Dietrich Jung is a Professor and Head of Department at the Center for Contemporary Middle East Studies, University of Southern Denmark. He holds a MA in Political Science and Islamic Studies, as well as a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, University of Hamburg, Germany, and has large field experience in the Muslim world. His most recent books are Orientalists, Islamists and the Global Public Sphere: A Genealogy of the Modern Essentialist Image of Islam (2011), and The Politics of Modern Muslim Subjectivities: Islam, Youth and Social Activism in the Middle East, together with Marie Juul Petersen and Sara Lei Sparre (New York: Palgrave, 2014).