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Han Hsien Liew’s fascinating and insightful new book, Preaching Pious Rulership in Medieval Islam: Ibn al-Jawzi’s Political Thought (Cambridge University Press, 2026) offers a new way of understanding the political thought of one of medieval Islam’s most influential preachers, Ibn al-Jawzi. Although Ibn al-Jawzi is often remembered primarily as a preacher, moralist, and religious scholar, Han Hsien challenges conventional accounts of medieval Islamic political thought by showing how piety, preaching, and emotional formation shaped his vision of political authority. Rather than focusing simply on the ruler’s ability to maintain order, Ibn al-Jawzi placed extraordinary emphasis on the ruler’s moral character and on cultivating emotions such as fear, humility, remorse, and compassion. Han Hsien argues that this vision of pious rulership emerged from what he calls “homiletic piety,” revealing how the moral and emotional world of hortatory preaching shaped ideas about what it meant to rule well. By placing Ibn al-Jawzi’s writings in their historical and political context—including his relationship with the Abbasid caliphate and his controversial intervention in debates over the cursing of Yazid—Han Hsien challenges simplistic distinctions between political “quietism” and “activism” and reveals a thinker deeply invested in influencing those who wielded political power.
In our conversation, Han Hsien explains why he chose Ibn al-Jawzi as the subject of the book and what we can learn about medieval Islamic politics by taking preachers seriously as political thinkers. We discuss the concept of “homiletic piety” and Ibn al-Jawzi’s approach to exhorting rulers, including the rhetorical strategies he believed scholars could use to encourage rulers toward greater humility, kindness, and moral responsibility. We also explore Ibn al-Jawzi’s relationship with the Abbasid caliph al-Mustadi and what his writings reveal about the particular concerns of the ruler to whom they were addressed. Han Hsien discusses the complicated relationship between scholars and political power, including the historical debate over sharia and siyasa (or politics), and explains why Ibn al-Jawzi does not fit neatly into categories such as “quietist” or “activist.” We also talk about the significant role of emotions—including fear, remorse, humility, and compassion—in Ibn al-Jawzi’s understanding of political authority and consider whether he actually believed rulers could be transformed through preaching. Finally, we discuss Ibn al-Jawzi’s intervention in the debate over Yazid and what this reveals about his commitment to the idea of pious rulership.
This book will be of tremendous interest to scholars and students of Islamic studies, medieval Islamic history, Islamic political thought, and the history of preaching, as well as anyone interested in the relationship between religion, morality, and political power. It will also appeal to readers interested in a different way of thinking about politics, one that takes seriously the power of preaching, persuasion, and moral and emotional formation to shape those who govern.
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