The talk will examine the historiographical framework of the “post-Mongol period” in the broader context of the study of the Islamic tradition in west Asia. In particular, I will reflect on the dialectics between two historiographical (and political) trends: one emphasizes the rupture caused by the Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century, while the other stresses continuity between the pre- and the post-Mongol periods. As I will show, much of the debate is about how to evaluate and define change within the Islamic tradition. I will illustrate the dynamics between the historiographical approaches by concentrating on Islamic law and political thought. 

Guy Burak is the Librarian for Middle Eastern, Islamic and Jewish Studies at NYU’s Elmer Holmes Library. He is the author of The Second Formation of Islamic Law: The Hanafi School in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2015). He has published articles on the legal, intellectual and visual histories of the post-Mongol period. He is currently working on a monograph on the history of dynastic law (qanun/kanun).

Introduction by Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, Professor of History and Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies at New York University.