Wilfred Cantwell Smith, a Hermeneutic of Humanity, and the Islamic State in Pakistan

W.C. Smith, the late great scholar of Islam, wrote extensively in his early career about Pakistan and the Muslims of India. His scholarship modelled a compassionate and affective engagement with the tradition that was rare in histories being written by non-Muslims. His analysis of what unfolded in Pakistan is an important reminder of the ways to avoid thinking of Islam as a dead thing, but rather as a living tradition.