Muslims and Citizens

A groundbreaking study of the role of Muslims in eighteenthcentury France This elegant, braided history of Muslims and French citizenship is urgently needed. It will be a must read for students of the French Revolution and anyone interested in modern France.Carla Hesse, University of California, Berkeley From the beginning, French revolutionaries imagined their transformation as a universal one that must include Muslims, Europes most immediate neighbors. They believed in a world in which Muslims could and would be French citizens, but they disagreed violently about how to implement their visions of universalism and accommodate religious and social difference. Muslims, too, saw an opportunity, particularly as European powers turned against the new French Republic, leaving the Muslim polities of the Middle East and North Africa as Frances only friends in the region. In Muslims and Citizens, Coller examines how Muslims came to participate in the political struggles of the revolution and how revolutionaries used Muslims in France and beyond as a test case for their ideals. In his final chapter, Coller reveals how the French Revolutions fascination with the Muslim world paved the way to Napoleons disastrous invasion of Egypt in 1798.