The second largest branch of Islam, with between 130 and 190 million adherents across the globe, Shi'i Islam is becoming an increasingly significant force in contemporary politics, especially in the Middle East. This makes an informed understanding of its fundamental spiritual beliefs and practices both necessary and timely. Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi is one of the most distinguished scholars of Shi'i history and theology, and in this volume he offers a wide-ranging and engaging survey of the core texts of Shi'i Islam. Examining in turn the origins and later developments of Shi'i spirituality, the author reveals the profoundly esoteric nature of the beliefs which accrued to the figures of the early Imams, and which became associated with their interaction between the material and spiritual worlds. Many of these beliefs have remained much misunderstood even within the wider Muslim world. Furthermore, Western scholarship has tended to follow the lead of the earlier orientalists and critics, viewing Shi'i teachings as marginal. In this study the author shows, by contrast, how central and creative the very nature of spirituality was to the development of Shi'i Islam, as well as to classical Muslim civilisation as a whole. In this comprehensive treatment, the esoteric nature of Shi'i spirituality emerges as an essential phenomenon for understanding Shi'i Islam.

Examining a wide range of genres, including novels, memoirs, travel writing and journalism, this book explores representations of Muslims and Islam in modern English literature. The relationship between Islam and the West is one of the most urgent and hotly debated issues of our time. This book is the first to offer a comprehensive overview of the way in which Muslims are represented within modern English writing, ranging from the novel, through memoir and travel writing to journalism. Covering a wide range of texts and authors, it scrutinises the identity 'Muslim' by looking at its inscription in recent and contemporary literary writing within the context of significant events like the Rushdie Affair, the Gulf War and 9/11. Examining the wide range of writing internationally that takes Islam or Islamic cultures as its focus, the authors discuss the representation of Muslim identity in writing by non-Muslim writers, former Muslim 'native informants', and practising Muslims.

This book is the only comprehensive study in a European language that analyzes how Sufi treatises, Qur'anic commentary, letters, hagiography, and poetry define and depict jihad. Harry S. Neale analyzes Sufi jihad discourse in Arabic and Persian texts composed between the eleventh and seventeenth centuries, providing access to many writings that have hitherto been unavailable in English. Despite the diversity of practice within Sufism that existed throughout the premodern period, Sufi writings consistently promulgated a complementary understanding of jihad as both a spiritual and military endeavor. Neale discusses the disparity between contemporary academic Sufi jihad discourse in European languages, which generally presents Sufis as peaceful mystics, and contemporary academic writing in Arabic that depicts Sufis as exemplary warriors who combine spiritual discipline with martial zeal. The book concludes that historically, Sufi writings never espoused a purely spiritual interpretation of the doctrine of jihad.

Muslims believe that the Qur'an represents the words of God as revealed by the Angel Gabriel to Muhammad over a period of approximately twenty-three years, beginning in 610 AD, when he was forty, and concluding in 632 AD, the year of his death. All of it came from the mouth of one man. More people read the Quran than any other book ever written.This new edition of the book has been published to help Muslims not fluent in Arabic to understand the meaning of the words. It includes an English translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali and a transliteration into Roman text by Abdul Haleem Eliyasee.However, it is important to remember at all times that the authoritative text is the Quran itself. These translations and transliterations are only intended to be helpful guides. They are not substitutes for the original.Every Muslim is required to read and understand the Quran to the extent of his ability. The words "To The Extent of his ability" is key. Obviously, a man who cannot speak Arabic and who is poorly educated will not be able to achieve the same level of understanding that a highly literate and educated native speaker of Arabic can. Nevertheless, even the poorly educated man must try to read and understand the actual words of the Quran. There is no Pope or supreme authority in Islam. Every man is his own authority. This is what Muslims believe.

This collection of arresting and innovative chapters applies the techniques of anthropology in analyzing the role played by Islam in the social lives of the world's Muslims. The volume begins with an introduction that sets out a powerful case for a fresh approach to this kind of research, exhorting anthropologists to pause and reflect on when Islam is, and is not, a central feature of their informants' life-worlds and identities. The chapters that follow are written by scholars with long-term, specialist research experience in Muslim societies ranging from Kenya to Pakistan and from Yemen to China: thus they explore and compare Islam's social significance in a variety of settings that are not confined to the Middle East or South Asia alone. The authors assess how helpful current anthropological research is in shedding light on Islam's relationship to contemporary societies.Collectively, the contributors deploy both theoretical and ethnographic analysis of key developments in the anthropology of Islam over the last 30 years, even as they extrapolate their findings to address wider debates over the anthropology of world religions more generally. Crucially, they also tackle the thorny question of how, in the current political context, anthropologists might continue conducting sensitive and nuanced work with Muslim communities. Finally, an afterword by a scholar of Christianity explores the conceptual parallels between the book's key themes and the anthropology of world religions in a broader context. This volume has key contemporary relevance: for example, its conclusions on the fluidity of people's relations with Islam will provide an important counterpoint to many commonly held assumptions about the incontestability of Islam in the public sphere.

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Substantially about the relation between the concept of constitutionalism and Islamic Law in general and how such relation is specifically reflected in the Shi'ite jurisprudence, this volumeexplores the juristic origins of constitutionalism, especially in the context of 1905 Constitutional Revolution in Iran. Boozari has introduced the most important fatwas issued by the religious leaders in support of constitutionalism during the 1905 revolution, unfolded their underpinning theories, and analyzed the juristic technicalities of the terms.

For all the attention to radical political Islam, there is little awareness that the democratically elected government of Turkey has an Islamic flavor. This book places within historical context the rise of the Islamic political party now governing Turkey and examines the implications of its rule for that country and its relations with Europe, the United States and the Middle East.

'Stations of the Sufi Path' is a new translation of a key Sufi text and the first Persian work to address the stages, or stations, of the Sufi way. Its author, Abdullah Ansari, was born in 1006 in Herat in present-day Afghanistan, and is considered one of the greatest as well as one of the earliest of the Persian Sufi scholars whose works constitute an important contribution to the intellectual history of Islam. Detailed descriptions of each 'station' make this work an esoteric masterpiece, now almost one thousand years old, that invites the reader ona spiritual journey of self-discovery.

There is a growing consensus among experts and the educated public alike that democratization will reduce the many problems of the Muslim world. The question that remains is how Islam should be incorporated into the public sphere. Islamic Democratic Discourse is in itself a dialogue that explores the multi-faceted relationship between Islam and democracy. Each chapter, by a preeminent scholar of the Muslim tradition and its contemporary challenges, provides insight into Islamic political thought and its connection to Western democracy. Tamara Sonn and Tarek Ramdan consider the elements of government in classical Islam. Osman Bakar and Ali Paya provide regional studies of the search for compatibility between Islam and democracy. And finally, editor Muqtedar Khan and Marc Lynch are among those who offer a global perspective on the discourse on Islam and democracy. Unlike many recent efforts which seek to either underscore or dispute the compatibility of Islam and democracy, this eclectic collection begins a comprehensive conversation on Islam's role in the public sphere and charts a course toward an authentic Islamic theory of democracy. Islamic Democratic Discourse is a crucial addition to the libraries of scholars interested in the future of Islam in the modern world.

Which religion on earth was not and is not victim of the terrorist activities of Islam? Muhammad was a crime boss. Muslims should be restricted to Islamic countries.

This book gathers scholars from the three major monotheistic religions to discuss the issue of poverty and wealth from the varied perspectives of each tradition. It provides a cadre of values inherent to the sacred texts of Jews, Christians, and Muslims and illustrates how these values may be used to deal with current economic inequalities. Contributors use the methodologies of religious studies to provide descriptions and comparisons of perspectives from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam on poverty and wealth. The book presents citations from the sacred texts of all three religions. The contributors discuss the interpretations of these texts and the necessary contexts, both past and present, for deciphering the stances found there. Poverty and Wealth in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam identifies and details a foundation of common values upon which individual and institutional decisions may be made.

Originally published in 1897. Author: Samuel M.Zwemer Language: English Keywords: History / Islam / Mohammed Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Obscure Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

This book explores the possibility of a hermeneutics of the Qur'an. It starts from the presupposition that the Qur'an can be studied as a philosophical book. Thus the analysis is theoretical more than historical. Many philosophers commented the Qur'an and many supported their theories by resorting to the Qur'an. Thinkers like Fakhr al-Din al-Razi connected traditional theology and philosophy in their Qur'anic commentary. Others like Nasr Abu Zayd used philosophy to deconstruct the Qur'an paving the way for a modern humanistic hermeneutics. This book tries to go a step further: it aims to offer a path within the Qur'an that - through philosophy - leads to a fresh understanding of fundamental tenets of Islamic thought, most importantly tawhid - God's oneness - and to a fresh reading of the Qur'anic text. This book applies the phenomenological and ontological hermeneutics of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger to the study of the Qur'an going far beyond Annemarie Schimmel's phenomenological approach that is neither philosophical nor properly phenomenological (in Husserl's sense).

The 'Arab Spring' that began in 2011 has placed a spotlight on the transfer of political power in Islamic societies, reviving old questions about the place of political dissent and rebellion in Islamic civilization and raising new ones about the place of religion in modern Islamic societies.In Anatomy of Dissent in Islamic Societies, Ahmed E. Souaiaia examines the complex historical evolution of Islamic civilization in an effort to trace the roots of the paradigms and principles of Islamic political and legal theories. This study is one of the first attempts at providing a fuller picture of the place of dissent and rebellion in Islamic civilization by interpreting Sunni and Shii records in the context of little-known Ibad?i political and legal materials. As the oldest sect, Ibad?iyyah provides a record of the ways sectarianism and dissent developed and impinged on Islamic society and thought.

This resounding defence of the principles of free expression revisits the 'Satanic Verses' uproar of 1989, as well as subsequent incidents such as the Danish cartoons controversy, to argue that the human right of free speech is by no means so secure that it can be taken for granted.

This book examines the concept of leadership from within the Islamic worldview, exploring its meaning and various manifestations through textual evidence from the two primary sources of Islam, The Qur'an and hadith. Using this theoretical framework concurrent with contemporary leadership theory, the authors scrutinise the distinctive leadership dynamics of Islamic organisations within a minority-Muslim context and a focus on Australia. Drawing on empirical data gathered over four years, the nature of leadership and its processes within this unique context is examined. Leadership in Islam reconciles the problematic processes that exist within Muslim organisational context and offers a set of measures and strategies to improve leadership processes including enacting leadership, enacting following, accommodating complexity, sense making and embracing basics as the core processes. This book will be beneficial for anyone who seeks to understand the meaning of leadership in Islam, the way Islamic organisations operate, and the way forward for improving leadership processes within an Australian/Western context.

This book provides an economic analysis of the earliest Islamic society, focusing on the policies of the Messenger of Islam (Sawa) and his successors during the first four formative decades of Islam. Two institutions of great importance - the market and the public treasury (Baitul Mal) - and their roles in the development of the private and public sectors are particularly emphasized in this study. The first part of the book is devoted to the economic and cultural dimensions of life in the Arabian Peninsula during the pre-Islamic period, including an analysis of trade and financial relationships with the Roman and Persian economies; the challenges faced by the Messenger's mission and the economic policies of the Messenger after the migration to Madinah are also examined in detail. The author then moves on to a devoted analysis of the nature and functions of the public treasury, its revenues and expenditures, as well as financial and fiscal policies. Also examined is the role of the public sector in maintaining equilibrium in the financial and real sectors, as well as in promoting economic growth and employment. Analysis of the institution of the market, its characteristics, and its functions during the earliest Islamic period constitutes the third section of the book. The behaviors of consumers, producers, and investors in an economy without an interest rate mechanism are also addressed here. The final section investigates the fundamental objective of Islam for human societies - that is, justice - within the context of discussions in earlier parts of the book. The author uses historical economic data, facts, and evidences that are reported from the period, both prior to and after the establishment of the Islamic State, to explore the economic relations, policies, and models that were in practice and applied at that time.

Using concepts that are not already a part of the militant discourse as a way to undermine extremism, Countering Heedless Jihad explores a stratagem aimed at defusing jihadist ideology. It explains how to counteract idealist theology using concepts from it, borrowing ideas from some revered Islamic theologians and positioning them in a way that sabotages jihadist ideology. By integrating the theology with viable methods for dissemination, it presents a viable means for confusing existing members of radical groups and for neutralizing their recruiting effort. The book includes contributions by Major General Michael Lehnert, USMC; U.S. Ambassador David J. Dunford; and Dr. Khuram Iqbal.

Islam has permeated Chinese civilization as a religion and lifestyle for centuries. This volume offers a summary of key developments concerning scholarship on Islam in China and presents a record of research on this topic. The first part of the book is a narrative introduction to the history of Islam in China, the coexistence of Chinese and Muslim cultures, and contemporary issues. The second part of the work is a listing of more than four hundred sources of information on the topic. Entries are grouped in ten categories, and each entry includes a descriptive annotation. An appendix lists journals devoted to research in this field, and the volume concludes with author, title, and subject indexes.

Explores the historical origins of Syria's religious sects and their dominance of the Syrian social scene. It identifies their distinct beliefs and relates how the actions of the religious authorities and political entrepreneurs acting on behalf of their sects expose them to sectarian violence, culminating in the dissolution of the nation-state.