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Abstract: This article counters scholarly and popular assessments that mis-illustrate Islam as a monolith. By highlighting the diverse, distinct and oft conflicting legal schools of thought within Islam, sweeping classifications that reduce Islam into one consolidated “civilization” or “people” are disproved and demystified. In addition to illustrating this milieu of legal traditions, this article also critiques the contention that Islam is a monolith by surveying a number of sectarian and political contestations among Muslims. In conclusion, demonstrating that division and stratification among Muslims precludes the possibility of a unified Muslim monolith, movement, or civilization.
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