Book Review: Recalling the Caliphate: Decolonisation and World Order

Abstract

Salman Sayyid's book Recalling the Caliphate: Decolonisation and World Order (2014) analyzes the formation of Muslim identity as a political movement challenging the post-colonial world order. Using the concept of Critical Muslim Studies, the author critiques how the definition of Westernness is often monopolized as a universal standard to suppress the hegemony-building of the Islamic world. The content of the book critiques the legitimacy of mainstream Western concepts such as liberalism, secularism, and democracy, which are often used as tools to exclude and stigmatize Muslim identity in the public sphere. Sayyid presents a reinterpretation of the term Caliphate, not as an ideal state, but as a symbol of intellectual and political liberation, enabling Muslim intellectuals to create their own history and future without relying on colonial frameworks. The most important concept of this work is Decolonisation, which calls for intellectuals in the Global South to reject epistemological dominance and shift the focus of social science from empirical study to ontological questioning. This writing is highly significant to political science and sociology in challenging the deep-seated biases in mainstream theories that often conflate universality with Westernness and modernity.