Islamication: The Terminological and Conceptual Problems

"Islamication: The Terminological and Conceptual Problems" by Michael A. Cook

Marshall Hodgson famously invented the term “Islamicate” to cover features of Islamic culture that are contingently associated with the religion of Islam, but not part of it.  “Islamication”, in contrast to “Islamization”, would then be the process by which people assimilate such features.  Is this distinction conceptually coherent?  If it is, is it in practIce workable?  If workable at all, how well does it work?  And if the answers to these questions are positive, what is the best way to express the distinction?

Michael A. Cook is Full Professor in Near Eastern Studies at the Princeton University. His education took place first at Cambridge (King's College), later at the School of Oriental and African Studies in the University of London, then  of Leiden. Many of his publications have been concerned with the formation of Islamic civilization, and the role played by religious values in that process. His most substantial publication, however, is a study of a particular Islamic value over the entire range of Islamic history; the value in question is al-amr bi`l-ma'ruf—roughly, the duty of each and every Muslim to tell people off for violating God's law.