Examines Syria's religious, intellectual and political history during a period of transformation before World War I, focusing on an attempt to reform Islamic belief and practice at the turn of the century.

`a fascinating study ... This study represents an important contribution to the history of Muslim intellectual development in English, providing as it does formulation of key salafi positions' Sherifa Zuhur, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies - Vol 19.1

"Commins' book explores these tensions via a careful study of the documents of three generations of a notable Damascus family. His extensive research is a painstaking elucidation of the changing role of the ulama and the rise of a 'secular' Arabism."--Theological Book Review "Commins effectively and convincingly explains the social and political context of several generations of salafis in late Ottoman Syria. The author draws on a wide range of published sources as well as local court registers and the large library of the movement's most articluate and prolific spokesman, Jamal al-Din al Qasimi. The result is a complex and fascinating story -- Middle East Journal "A penetrating study of this important group of 19th-century Muslim intellectuals."--Choice "A fascinating study....This study represents an important contribution to the history of Muslim intellectual development in English, providing as it does formulation of key salafîs position."--British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies "David Commins has made a major contribution to scholarship, and expanded measurably our knowledge of more than one area of the history of Islamic reform in late Ottoman Syria. It is likely to remain an important resource for scholars and students for many years to come."--International Journal of Middle East Studies "Commins' study is one in which...real personalities emerge from the amorphous, faceless late-Ottoman period....Commins has concentrated on three endearing ulama....The author seems quite literally to have read everything they read, everything they wrote, and everything that was written about them....Commins' work is an intellectual historian's delight, full of direct quotes beautifully rendered into English. Here we have the thoughts, writings and pronouncements of communal leaders within the larger framework of the still poignant emergence of Arab social and political ideology."--Journal of the American Oriental Society