Becoming Better Muslims

"Becoming Better Muslims provides an engaging, sophisticated, and meticulously documented account of the ways ordinary Muslims negotiate the complex entanglements of religious authority, ethical self-fashioning, and moral uncertainty in a precarious world. David Kloos's clear, crisp prose and carefully crafted arguments make significant contributions to current debates on subjectivity, ambivalence, everyday religiosity, and lived Islam. Scholars in a number of different disciplines will greatly appreciate this important book."--Michael G. Peletz, Emory University"In this rich ethnography, David Kloos argues for ways of taking 'inner' dimensions of Islam seriously, in which the contingencies of everyday living are set in dynamic relation to, rather than as a foil for, long-term projects of religious engagement. These insights speak well beyond the specific context of Aceh to make important contributions to the academic study of Islam, and to current debates in the anthropology of ethics."--R. Michael Feener, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies"Becoming Better Muslims is unique in being at once theoretically informed, with its own clear argument to make, and ethnographically superior to many of the anthropological works available on Islam and ethics. Polished and compelling, it will be widely read."--Joel Robbins, University of Cambridge"Providing an eminently well-balanced historical introduction to Islam and society in Aceh, this comprehensively researched book examines the question of how ordinary Muslims respond to the pervasive efforts of the state and religious establishment to promote more standardized varieties of Islam. Offering a deeply important and novel perspective, Becoming Better Muslims is a major achievement."--Robert W. Hefner, Boston University