the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the editors of The Journal of Interdisciplinary History Traditionalism in Islam: An Essay in Interpretation Author(s): William A. Graham Source: The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 23, No. 3, Religion and History (Winter, 1993), pp. 495-522 Published by: The MIT Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/206100 . Accessed: 02/09/2013 11:06 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. The MIT Press and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the editors of The Journal of Interdisciplinary History are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Interdisciplinary History. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.112.200.107 on Mon, 2 Sep 2013 11:06:05 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Journal of InterdisciplinaryHistory, xxIII:3 (Winter 1993), 495-522. WilliamA. Graham Traditionalism in Islam: An Essay in Interpretation "No other community (ummah)has a continuous historical trans- mission (isndd) like that of ours-meaning this community."-Ibn Qutaybah (d. 276/889)1 Nowhere in the history of religion is the danger of interpretative generalization becoming reductionist or simplistic more acute than in the study of Islamic religion.