Cemil Aydin challenges the notion that anti-Westernism in the Muslim world is a reaction to the liberal democratic values of the West. He compares Ottoman Pan-Islamic and Japanese Pan-Asian visions of world order from the middle of the nineteenth century through World War II, focusing on the agency and achievements of non-Western intellectuals.
When President Barack Obama visited Cairo in 2009 to deliver an address to Muslims worldwide, he followed in the footsteps of countless politicians who have taken the existence of a unified global Muslim community for granted. But as Cemil Aydin explains in this provocative history, it is a misconception to think that the world s 1.5 billion Muslims constitute a single religio- political entity. How did this belief arise, and why is it so widespread? The Idea of the Muslim World searches for the intellectual origins of a mistaken notion and explains its enduring allure for non-Muslims and Muslims alike.