The Potentials and Limits of Going Global: Islam's Social Contingency and Absolute Truth in Arabic Sociologies of Religion

This article takes part in the current quest for more global histories of religion, yet also reflects on the possible limits of going global. To this end, it engages one specific perspective on religion, namely a sociological one. It probes into Arabic sociologies of religion, especially with reference to Islam. The author argues that epistemically, premises of social contingency may well complement assumptions of absolute truth. However, positions that would subject religion in general to contingency - that is, the idea that religion is constructed by humans rather than ensuing from divine revelation - are largely rejected. This partly explains the rather weak institutionalization of the sociology of religion in Arab countries, but it also recalls that such global institutionalization reflects one particular perspective on religion, which is itself underpinned by normative and epistemic assumptions of the social as absolute.