Legal and ethical transformations in colonial Egypt created social spaces that made secularism thinkable

Evidence

In this chapter I try to trace some changes in the concept of the law in colonial Egypt that helped to make secularism thinkable as a practical proposition. I focus on some of the ways that legal institutions, ethics, and religious authority became transformed, my purpose being to identify the emergence of social spaces within which “secularism” could grow. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 991 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The same colonial influence that established secularism also provoked Buddhist communalism — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 135; Secularism as state doctrine emerged from linking personal morality to legislative social reconstruction; Early modern secularism emerged from controlling the poor, hostile sects, and colonial expansion (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Legal-institutional transformation created the social space for secularism. #corroborates (0.96) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 991