I specialize in global and comparative political thought with an emphasis on Islamic political theory in the pre-colonial period. My work focuses on the entanglement of Islamic and European political thought throughout history, examining figures from the intellectual tradition who engage with non-Islamic sources and, in doing so, contribute to the formation of a global political discourse that spans the Mediterranean Sea. I am interested in specific topics like translation, migration, and moments in which perceived boundaries between the Islamic and non-Islamic worlds, both political and cultural, are crossed and transversed.
Publications
“Rifaʿa al-Tahtawi’s Mirror for Mehmed ʿAli: Reconsidering the Genre of Takhlis al-ibriz,” Comparative Political Theory, v. 4, no. 2 (2024), https://doi.org/10.1163/26669773-bja10068.
Manuscript in Preparation
Thinking across Borders: Islamic Political Thought in Moments of Crisis
Working Papers
“Translation, Aljamiado, and Early Modern Spanish Islam.”
“Language in Tension: Interiority in Early Modern Spanish Islam.”
“Al-Ghazali’s Critique of Taqlīd: Revival and the Canon.”
Research Interests
- Comparative political theory
- Islamic political thought
- Intellectual history of the Islamic world
- Poetics and politics
- Religion and politics
Image: Christoph Weiditz, “Der Moriskentanz” (1530s), Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg, Hs. 22474. Bl.107–108.
Nicholas X. Muench 