Muslims and Citizens

In July 1798, French troops arrived in Egypt carrying a brochure that asserted “the French are also sincere Muslims” (p. 1). While historians have commonly characterized this as a cynical ploy to gain Egyptians’ support, Coller’s analysis reveals that “it was not a lie but a half-believed fiction” (p. 238). Muslims and Citizens presents readers with a new lens through which to view the French Revolution, one that elucidates the surprisingly intense preoccupation with Islam in a country with few Muslims. Drawing on diverse sources, Coller traces both the evolution of responses to Islam and the experiences of Muslims themselves. Muslims, both real and fictionalized, figured prominently in many of the most critical debates of the revolution as “part of the systematic thinking-through of the consequences of the revolutionary transformation” (p. 5). Rejecting the notion that the French Revolution was a largely internal affair, Coller examines the revolution as many...

French revolution · Islam · Political science · Politics · Theology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Philosophy · Religious studies