Where will Muslim societies be tomorrow? The world is increasingly and constantly changing, making it hard to keep up. This makes life – even existence – much more dire and troublesome for those already marginalised. Normal is no longer capable of holding the promise of tomorrow’s certainty. We face a storm of ignorance and uncertainty that is sweeping the globe. These are postnormal times. But this cannot be the destiny of Muslim societies.

In the cultivation of a new type of literary – Futures literacy – there resides a hope. Muslim Societies in Postnormal Times both maps the terrain of our problems and issues and offers alternatives where agency can be discovered, and we can rescue and the decolonise our futures. Sardar, Serra, and Jordan take an open and plural approach to the future revealing the true potentials that lie before us. Through detailed analysis of contemporary trends, the road to destruction is revealed. Through identifying and exploring emerging issues, options are explored to craft positive futures. And in the extrapolation of these ideas into scenarios, the authors pave the way for us to navigate our own preferred futures. Their study challenges the reader to think about the future in a new way, redefining the monolithic future as three tomorrow's (Extended Present, Familiar Futures, and Unthought Futures), along the way ever watchful for Black Swans, Black Elephants, and the illustrious Black Jellyfish that could disrupt the path ahead.

The authors pull no punches in critically evaluating the possibilities and nightmares that could potentially befall Muslim societies. Through a display of creativity and imagination, they look beyond the conventional to illuminate threats and opportunities in the complex and contradictory, chaotic and interconnected, world we find ourselves in. Through explorations of ignorances and uncertainties, they push readers to see beyond popular, yet naïve, notions of present and future.

This thoroughly revised second edition includes updated analysis, including the impact the Covid-19 Pandemic, and recent global events and disruptions. It extends an invitation to Muslims everywhere to work together to navigate better futures in postnormal times – for humanity as well as the planet.

 

Edited by Ziauddin Sardar, Jordi Serra, and C Scott Jordan

Published by IIIT & CPPFS

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