In popular and academic literature, jihad is predominantly assumed to refer to armed combat, and Muslim martyrdom is understood to be invariably of the military kind. This perspective, derived mainly from legal texts, has led to discussions of jihad and martyrdom primarily as concepts with fixed, universal meanings divorced from the socio-political circumstances in which they have been deployed through time. This book, however, studies in a more holistic manner the range of significations that can be ascribed to the term jihad from the earliest period to the contemporary period against the backdrop of specific historical and political circumstances that frequently mediated the meanings of this critical term. Instead of privileging the juridical literature, the book canvasses a more diverse array of texts - Qur'an, tafsir, hadath, edifying and hortatory literature - to recuperate a more nuanced and multifaceted understanding of both jihad and martyrdom through time. As a result, many conventional and monochromatic assumptions about the military jihad and martyrdom are challenged and undermined. Asma Afsaruddin argues that the notion of jihad as primarily referring to armed combat is in fact relatively late. A comprehensive interrogation of varied sources, she shows, reveals early and multiple competing definitions of a word that translates literally to "striving on the path of God."

'Bold, addictive and brilliant.' Stylist, best fiction 2021 A Times Bestseller A Times & Sunday Times Best Crime Books of 2021 A Waterstones Best Crime & Thriller of 2021 Be twice as good as men and four times as good as white men. Jia Khan has always lived like this. Successful London lawyer Jia Khan is a long way from the Northern streets she knew as a child, where her father, Akbar Khan, led the Pakistani community and ran the local organised crime syndicate. Often his Jirga rule - the old way - was violent and bloody, but it was always justice of a kind. Now, with her father murdered, Jia must return to take his place. Justice needs to be restored, and Jia is about to discover that justice always comes at a cost. 'A fascinating glimpse into a world rarely portrayed in fiction.' Guardian, best crime and thrillers 'A once-in-a-generation crime thriller.' A.A.Dhand, author of Streets of Darkness

David Tittensor offers a groundbreaking new perspective on the Gulen movement, a Turkish Muslim educational activist network that emerged in the 1960s and has grown into a global empire with an estimated worth of $25 billion. Named after its leader Fethullah Gulen, the movement has established more than 1,000 secular educational institutions in over 140 countries, aiming to provide holistic education that incorporates both spirituality and the secular sciences. Despite the movement's success, little is known about how its schools are run, or how Islam is operationalized. Drawing on thirteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in Turkey, Tittensor explores the movement's ideo-theology and how it is practiced in the schools. His interviews with both teachers and graduates from Africa, Indonesia, Central Asia, and Turkey show that the movement is a missionary organization, but of a singular kind: its goal is not simply widespread religious conversion, but a quest to recoup those Muslims who have apparently lost their way through proselytism and to show non-Muslims that Muslims can embrace modernity and integrate into the wider community. Tittensor also examines the movement's operational side and shows how the schools represent an example of Mohammad Yunus's social business model: a business with a social cause at its heart. The House of Service is an insightful exploration of one of the largest transnational Muslim associations in the world today, and will be invaluable for those seeking to understand how Islam will be perceived and practiced in the future.

The Cambridge Companion to American Islam offers a scholarly overview of the state of research on American Muslims and American Islam. The book presents the reader with a comprehensive discussion of the debates, challenges and opportunities that American Muslims have faced through centuries of American history. This volume also covers the creative ways in which American Muslims have responded to the myriad serious challenges that they have faced and continue to face in constructing a religious praxis and complex identities that are grounded in both a universal tradition and the particularities of their local contexts. The book introduces the reader to some of the many facets of the lives of American Muslims that can only be understood in their interactions with Islam's entanglement in the American experiment.

Media Framing of the Muslim World examines and explains how news about Islam and the Muslim world is produced and consumed, and how it impacts on relations between Islam and the West. The authors cover key issues in this relationship including the reporting on war and conflict, terrorism, asylum seekers and the Arab Spring.

Umar Ibn al-Farid (1181 1235), author of two classic works, the Wine Ode and the Poem of the Sufi Way, is considered the greatest Sufi poet to write in Arabic. In this study, these and other poems by Ibn al-Farid are considered within the context of Islamic mysticism, Arabic literature, and Sufi poetry. Th. Emil Homerin uncovers the literary and religious intent of these poems and their aesthetic and mystical content, showing them to be a type of meditative poetry. Indeed, Ibn al-Farid often alludes to the Sufi practice of recollection, or meditation on God, to evoke a view of existence in which the seeker may be transformed by an epiphany of love revealing an intimate relationship to the divine beloved. Homerin provides elegant translations and close readings of Ibn al-Farid s poetry, highlighting the beauty of his verse, its moods, meanings, and significance within Islamic mysticism and Arabic poetry, where Ibn al-Farid is still known as the Sultan of the Lovers. "

This book contains selected papers which were presented at the 3rd International Halal Conference (INHAC 2016), organized by the Academy of Contemporary Islamic Studies (ACIS), Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam, Malaysia. It addresses halal-related issues that are applicable to various industries and explores a variety of contemporary and emerging issues. Highlighting findings from both scientific and social research studies, it enhances the discussion on the halal industry (both in Malaysia and at the international level), and serves as an invitation to engage in more advanced research on the global halal industry.

The advent of the holy prophet Muhammad (PBH) was foretold in so many pages of all the previous scriptures. He was finally unveiled by the Almighty God, with a message to all the world (the holy Quran). The holy Quran (as prophesied in the previous scriptures) is the actual word of the Almighty God - Allah. It was revealed for the benefit of all mankind: "Blessed is He who sent down the criterion to His servant, that it may be an admonition to all creatures." (Q.25: 1). It is complete and comprehensive and in conformity with the prophecy in the previous scriptures. The Almighty Allah says: ."Nothing have we omitted from the Book." (Q.6: 38) The message given to the holy prophet Muhammad (PBH) by the Almighty Allah for mankind thus contains a complete code which provides for all areas of life, whether spiritual, intellectual, political, social or economic. It is a code which has no boundaries of time, place or nation. Before Islam, religion was on the authority of its own leaders, and was thus the avowed enemy of reason resulting in making theology to be based on intricate subtleties and credulous admiration of miracles. The holy Quran came and took religion by a new road untrodden by the previous scriptures in fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy. It spoke to the rational mind and alerted the intelligence. It sets out the order in the Universe, the principles and certitudes within it, and required a lively scrutiny of them that the mind might thus be sure of the validity of its claim and message. Even in relation to the narratives of the past, it proceeded on the conviction that the created order follows invariable laws, as the holy Quran says: "Such was the way of God in days gone by and youwill find (that) it does not change (Q.48: 23). And again, "God does not change people's case until they change their own disposition (Q.13: 11). Even in matters of morality, the holy Quran relies on evidence: "Requite evil with good and your worst enemy will become your dearest friend (Q.41: 34). Thus for the first time in a revealed scripture, reason finds its brotherly place; and toleration made a corner stone of religion as the holy Quran says: "There is no compulsion in religion."(Q2: 256) But warned t tyranny and injustice are the two enemies of social solidarity and inter- social amity.

Sunni-Shi'i relations have undergone significant transformations in recent decades. The 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran had a major spill-over effect on the entire Middle East, and the 2003 war in Iraq transformed the Shi'is into the dominant force in Iraq. The emergence of Iran as a regional power following Saddam Husayn's removal, along with the weakness of the Arab state system, raised the specter of the "Shi'i Crescent" threatening Sunni-Arab domination in the region. The present volume demonstrates the complexity of Sunni-Shi'i relations by analyzing political, ideological, and social encounters between the two communities from early Islamic history to the present. While analyzing specific case studies in various Middle Eastern regions, the book provides a panoramic picture ranging from hostility to efforts of cooperation and ecumenism.

The scholarly study of Islam has become ever more insular and apologetic. Academic Islamic Studies has tried to maintain a focus on truth, authenticity, experience and meaning and has effectively avoided discussion of larger social, cultural and ideological issues. Many scholars of Islam have presented themselves to their colleagues, the media and the public as the interpreters of Islam and have done so with an interpretation which tends, almost universally, to the liberal and egalitarian. The ignorance and hostility which the Islamic faith has faced since 9/11 has partly necessitated the taking of such a position. But, as Theorizing Islam argues, the issue remains that only one interpretation of Islam is generally being presented and, as with any interpretation, this has its own assumptions. The aim of Theorizing Islam is to explore the potential for a fuller, more honest and more sophisticated approach to both theory and methodology in the academic study of Islam.

This volume introduces the concept of Islamist extremist "master narratives" and offers a method for identifying and analyzing them. Drawing on rhetorical and narrative theories, the chapters examine thirteen master narratives and explain how extremists use them to solidify their base, recruit new members, and motivate actions. The book concludes with an integration of the idea of master narratives, their story forms, and archetypes into existing strategic communication understandings, and suggestions for using this approach to create counter-terrorism strategies.

`Abd al-`Aziz b. Marwan (d. 86/705) reigned as the amir of Egypt and wali al-`ahd (heir apparent) to the Islamic caliphate for over 20 years. This book intends to revive this largely forgotten amir and demonstrate the critical role he played in the formation of the Marwanid dynasty. The founding thesis of this study is that `Abd al-`Aziz was appointed the amir of Egypt and second heir apparent due to the legitimacy his maternal lineage brought the nascent dynasty.

'A powerful corrective' Guardian

'This should be compulsory reading' Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads

'For anyone interested in the future of Islam, both in Britain and the Islamic world, this is an important book' The Times

The gulf between Islam and the West is widening. A faith rich with strong values and traditions, observed by nearly two billion people is seen by the West as something to be feared rather than understood. Sensational headlines and hard-line policies spark enmity, while ignoring the feelings, narratives and perceptions that preoccupy Muslims today.

The House of Islam seeks to provide entry to the minds and hearts of Muslims the world over. It introduces us to the kindness of Mohammed; the beauty of Islamic art and the permeation of the divine in public spaces; and the tension between mysticism and literalism that still threatens the House of Islam.

Ed Husain expertly and compassionately guides us through the nuances of Islam and its people, contending that the Muslim world need not be a stranger to the West, nor its enemy, but a peaceable ally.

For more than a millennium, Islam has been a vital part of Western civilization. Today, however, it is sometimes assumed that Islam is a foreign element inside the West, and even that Islam and the West are doomed to be in perpetual conflict. The need for accurate, reliable scholarship on this topic has never been more urgent. The Bloomsbury Reader on Islam in the West brings together some of the most important, up-to-date scholarly writings published on this subject. The Reader explores not only the presence of Muslim religious practitioners in Europe and the Americas but also the impact of Islamic ideas and Muslims on Western politics, societies, and cultures. It is ideal for use in the university classroom, with an extensive introduction by Edward E. Curtis IV and a timeline of key events in the history of Islam in the West. A brief introduction to the author and the topic is provided at the start of each excerpt. Part 1, on the history of Islam in the West, probes the role of Muslims and the significance of Islam in medieval, early modern, and modern settings such as Islamic Spain, colonial-era Latin America, sixteenth-century France, nineteenth-century Crimea, interwar Albania, the post-World War II United States, and late twentieth-century Germany. Part 2 focuses on the contemporary West, examining debates over Muslim citizenship, the war on terrorism, anti-Muslim prejudice, and Islam and gender, while also providing readers with a concrete sense of how Muslims practise and live out Islamic ideals in their private and public lives.

In our age of globalisation and pandemic, how should we react to the new Islamophobic movements now spreading in the West? Everywhere the far right is on the march, with nationalist and populist parties thriving on the back of popular anxieties about Islam and the Muslim presence. Hijab and minaret bans, mosque shootings, hostility to migrants and increasingly scornful media stereotypes seem to endanger the prospects for friendly coexistence and the calm uplifting of Muslim populations. In this series of essays Abdal Hakim Murad dissects the rise of Islamophobia on the basis of Muslim theological tradition. Although the proper response to the current impasse is clearly indicated in Qur'an and Hadith, some have lost the principle of trust in divine wisdom and are responding with hatred, fearfulness or despair. Murad shows that a compassion-based approach, rooted in an authentic theology of divine power, could transform the current quagmire into a bright landscape of great promise for Muslims and their neighbours.