Noah Salomon’s recent ethnography of the Islamic state in Sudan looks at this political formation as it is lived out in daily life. As Salomon phrases it in his introduction to the series,

“As much a meditation on the religious dimensions of the modern state in general as it is an ethnography of religious and political life in Sudan, For Love of the Prophet asks readers to question their own assumptions about what has sustained foundational politics in our ‘post-foundational age.’ Moving beyond arguments about the impossibility of the Islamic state as a moral-theoretical or an ethical-political project, For Love of the Prophet draws on ethnographic research to ask by what means the Islamic state does in fact proceed in spite of its seeming contradictions.”

In this series, six scholars from an array of disciplines discuss Salomon’s contribution to conversations on state formation, the Islamic in the public, and the history of Sudan. They ask questions based on their own research interests, engaging with the text from a variety of perspectives.

Begin with reading Noah Salomon’s introduction here. Follow along with the conversation with the responses below.