I TZCHAK W EISMANN , Taste of Modernity, Sufism, Salafiyya, and Arabism in Late Ottoman Damascus, Islamic History and Civilization (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2001). Pp. 355. $86.00 cloth.

Abstract

Itzchak Weismann's recent book on reform movements in late Ottoman Damascus illustrates how contemporary Islamic reform movements such as the Salafiyya have their origins in the efforts of Damascene religious men of learning and mysticism. These men attempted to construct reform movements that adhered to Islamic ideals while accommodating changed circumstances brought about by Western penetration into the region. Sufi ulama movements that made claims to both orthodoxy and reform in this early period provided much of the intellectual and social fodder for what Weismann calls modern Islamic movements. The combination of עilm and taṣawwuf , according to Weismann, allowed these early scholars to carve a reformist, yet orthodox, path that avoided the rigidity of the traditional ulama, who ignored mystic thought, and the popular Sufis, who neglected religious learning. Further, the story of these early reform movements illustrates how the path to modernity in the Muslim world is not simply the tale of an all-out adoption of Western rationalism by a centralized Ottoman bureaucracy; rather, it reflects a deep commitment by local Muslim intellectuals to contend with their changing world in terms that reflect the depth of their Islamic tradition. Through an investigation of the teachings and participants of three distinct reform movements in late Ottoman Damascus, Weismann illustrates the tensions within the movements and with the central Ottoman government—all of which pushed many of these reformers gradually to rely on more local avenues of expression, thereby paving the way for the rise of Arab nationalism.