What forms can a religiously informed, ethical Muslim life take? This book presents two important accounts of ideal Muslim subjectivity, one by 9th century moral pedagogue, al-Harith al-Muhasibi (d. 857) and the other by 20th century Kurdish Quran scholar, Said Nursi (d. 1960). It reconstructs Muhasibi’s and Nursi’s accounts of ideal Muslim consciousness and analyzes the discursive practices implicated in its formation and expression. The book discusses the range of psychic states and ethical relations that Muhasibi and Nursi consider critical for living an authentically Muslim life. It highlights the importance of discursive practices in Muslim religious and moral self-production. The author draws on Foucault's insights about ethics and practices of self-care to examine familiar Muslim discourses in ways that enrich contemporary conversations about identity, individuality, community, authority, moral agency and virtue in the fields of religious studies, Islamic studies and Muslim ethics. The book deepens our understanding of the fluidity and fragility of both the more familiar, obligation-centered ethics in Islamic thought and the less familiar, belief-centered modes of religio-moral being.

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Sheikh's work includes a dissertation on ninth-century Arab Muslim thinker and moral teacher al-Harith, born Asad al-Muhasibi. Sheikh (William and Mary) has also presented at conferences and written journal articles—evidence of his significant scholarship in religious ethics. In the present book, Sheikh applies what is appropriately termed a “third wave” interpretation in comparative religious ethics. He adds to his previous writings by integrating a close reading of 20th-century Kurdish Muslim Qur'anic scholar Said Nursi (1878–1960) with work of French philosopher Pierre Hadot and with late-career, post–Iranian revolution writings of Michel Foucault. The introduction, “Narrating Ideal Muslim Subjectivities in a Foucauldian Register," provides a succinct orientation to the project. Four substantive chapters—two on Muhasibi and two on Nursi—bring received Muslim categories into a more general discussion that includes the formation of moral subjectivity, sincerity, and self-care practice central to the work of Hadot and Foucault. The result is a serious, consequential analysis that can show new ways to appreciate long-established practices and methods for Muslim moral formation. Extensive references, bibliography, and index. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.