This concise and accessible volume introduces the reader to issues around religion, gender, and violence, using a wide range of case studies to engage the reader and apply the subject area to the real world. An outstanding resource for students approaching the topic for the first time. The eBook is open access and therefore widely available.

This magisterial Norton Anthology, edited by world-renowned scholars, offers a portable library of more than 1,000 primary texts from the world's major religions. To help readers encounter strikingly unfamiliar texts with pleasure; accessible introductions, headnotes, annotations, pronouncing glossaries, maps, illustrations and chronologies are provided. For readers of any religion or none, The Norton Anthology of World Religions opens new worlds that, as Miles writes, invite us "to see others with a measure of openness, empathy, and good will..." Unprecedented in scope and approach, The Norton Anthology of World Religions: Islam brings together over 100 texts from the Qur'an in the seventh century to feminist and pluralist readings of the Qur'an in the twenty-first century. The volume features Jack Miles's illuminating General Introduction-"How the West Learned to Compare Religions"-as well as Jane Dammen McAuliffe's "Submission to God as the Wellspring of a Civilization," a lively primer on the history and core tenets of Islam.

In this riveting novel, beloved international bestselling author Deepak Chopra captures the spellbinding life story of the great and often misunderstood Prophet.

Islam was born in a cradle of tribal turmoil, and the arrival of one God who vanquished hundreds of ancient Arabian gods changed the world forever. God reached down into the life of Muhammad, a settled husband and father, and spoke through him. Muhammad's divine and dangerous task was to convince his people to renounce their ancestral idols and superstitious veneration of multiple gods. From the first encounter, God did not leave Muhammad alone, his life was no longer his own, and with each revelation the creation of a new way of life formed and a religion was born.

Muhammad didn't see himself as the son of God or as one who achieved cosmic enlightenment. His relatives and neighbors didn't part the way when he walked down the parched dirt streets of Mecca. There was no mark of divinity. Orphaned by age six, Muhammad grew up surrounded by dozens of cousins and extended family to become a trusted merchant. Muhammad saw himself as an ordinary man and that is why what happened to him is so extraordinary.

Rooted in historical detail, Muhammad brings the Prophet to life through the eyes of those around him. A Christian hermit mystic foretells a special destiny, a pugnacious Bedouin wet nurse raises him in the desert, and a religious rebel in Mecca secretly takes the young orphan under his spiritual wing. Each voice, each chapter brings Muhammad and the creation of Islam into a new light. The angel Gabriel demands Muhammad to recite, the first convert risks his life to protect his newfound faith, and Muhammad's life is not a myth but an incredible true and surprisingly unknown story of a man and a moment that sparked a worldwide transformation.

Foundations of Islamic Psychology: From Classical Scholars to Contemporary Thinkers examines the history of Islamic psychology from the Islamic Golden age through the early 21st century, giving a thorough look into Islamic psychology's origins, Islamic philosophy and theology, and key developments in Islamic psychology. In tracing psychology from its origins in early civilisations, ancient philosophy, and religions to the modern discipline of psychology, this book integrates overarching psychological principles and ideas that have shaped the global history of Islamic psychology. It examines the legacy of psychology from an Islamic perspective, looking at the contributions of early Islamic classical scholars and contemporary psychologists, and to introduce how the history of Islamic philosophy and sciences has contributed to the development of classical and modern Islamic psychology from its founding to the present. With each chapter covering a key thinker or moment, and also covering the globalisation of psychology, the Islamisation of knowledge, and the decolonisation of psychology, the work critically evaluates the effects of the globalisation of psychology and its lasting impact on indigenous culture. This book aims to engage and inspire students taking undergraduate and graduate courses on Islamic psychology, to recognise the power of history in the academic studies of Islamic psychology, to connect history to the present and the future, and to think critically. It is also ideal reading for researchers and those undertaking continuing professional development in Islamic psychology, psychotherapy, and counselling.

Years of Upheaval discusses 'Axial periods' in history; years that witnessed such fundamental reversals in history as to make the world turn upside down and inaugurate a new era. Raphael Israeli sees the post-1989 period as such a period in Islam. He explores events in the Islamic world since the end of the 1980s, and during the 1990s and their aftermath, particularly following the Iranian Islamic Revolution, the Rushdie Affair, and the death of Khumeini. Israeli posits these events signalled a new age of Islamic violence and fundamentalism. The period has seen the dissipation of state borders and the rise of transnational and trans-territorial movements, such as ISIS, that have been extraordinarily attractive to young people in the Islamic world. The hopeful Arab Spring (2010-2013) has been replaced by a threatening Islamic winter. A number of major events shook the Muslim world on both the Asian and the African continents as well as peripheral Islamic minorities in Australia, Canada, and Latin America. Among them were the Islamic Bomb and the rise of radical Islamic movements (notably Hamas and Hezbollah) and the rift between Sunnites and Shiites. These and other momentous events in the Islamic world occasioned the 'Arab Spring' and produced unrest in a wide swath of the Muslim world. Even more importantly, these were forming trends that are characterizing the decades thereafter.

The aim of this book is to explore and analyze the Islamic axioms, foundation principles and values underpinning the field of governance in an attempt to construct the architectonics of a new systemic and dynamic theory and formulate the articulation of 'Islamic governance'. This discursive and abstract, rather than being an empirical exercise, assumes to produce a 'good governance' framework within its own formulation through a value-shaped dynamic model according to maqasid al-Shari'ah (higher objective of Shari'ah) by going beyond the narrow remit of classical and contemporary discussions produced on the topic, which propose a certain institutional model of governance based on the classical juristic (fiqh) method. Through an exclusive analytical discursive approach in this book, readers will find that Islam as one of the major religions in the contemporary world with the claim of promising the underpinning principles and philosophical foundations of worldly affairs and institutions through a micro method of producing homoIslamicus could contribute towards development of societies by establishing a unique model of governance from its explicit ontological worldview through a directed descriptive epistemology.

This book provides a comprehensive study on the proclamation of Holy Scriptures as an enacted celebration, as well as its function as a performance within sacralized theatrical spaces. Scripture is integral to religious life within Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and these traditions have venerated the reading of texts from an appointed place as a sacred act. Thus, the study of how these readings are conducted illuminates some vitally important aspects of this widespread act of worship. Contributing to an underexplored area of scholarship, the book offers an overview of scripture reading in the three Abrahamic faiths and then focuses on where and how the "Word of God" is presented within the Christian tradition. It gathers and summarizes research on the origins of a defined place for the proclamation of holy writings, giving a thorough architectural analysis and interpretation of the various uses and symbols related to these spaces over time. Finally, the listener is considered with a phenomenological description of the place for reading and its hermeneutical interpretation. The material in this book uncovers the contemporary impact of a rich history of publicly reading out scriptures. It will, therefore, be of great interest to scholars of liturgical theology, religious studies, and ritual studies.

First published in 1991, this title explores the myths and misperceptions that have underpinned Muslim-Christian relations throughout history, and which endure to the current day. William Montgomery Watt describes how the myths originated and developed, and argues that both Muslims and Christians need to have a more accurate knowledge and positive appreciation of the other religion. Chapters discuss the Qur'anic perception of Christianity, attitudes to Greek philosophy and the relationship between Islam and Christianity in medieval Europe. Written by one of the leading authorities on Islam in the West, Muslim-Christian Encounters remains a relevant and vivid study and will be of particular value to students of Islam, religious history and sociology.

Like many women in the Church, Joy Loewen didn't fully understand Muslim women or their roles in the Muslim culture and religion. In fact, she was afraid of them and not particularly interested in befriending them. But with prayer, wisdom, and a lot of love, Joy overcame these obstacles, found that she actually liked them, and that many of these women are irresistibly attracted to the love of Jesus. For the last thirty years she has used this knowledge to build authentic connections with Muslim women, reaching out to them in a sensitive, effective way.
In this practical and very personal book, Joy shares not only her insights into befriending Muslim women, but many helpful stories from her own experiences. Her goal is to help readers "move from fear to love and compassion" so that they, too, can love as Christ does. Woman to Woman is essential reading for Christian leaders, ministries, and any layperson who wants to grow in love for and understanding of Muslims.

The headlines are filled with the politics of Islam, but there is another side to the world's fastest-growing religion. Sufism is the poetry and mysticism of Islam. This mystical movement from the early ninth century rejects worship motivated by the desire for heavenly reward or the fear of punishment, insisting rather on the love of God as the only valid form of adoration. Sufism has made significant contributions to Islamic civilization in music and philosophy, dance and literature. The Sufi poet Rumi is the bestselling poet in America. But in recent centuries Sufism has been a target for some extremist Islamic movements as well as many modernists. The Garden of Truth presents the beliefs and vision of the mystical heart of Islam, along with a history of Sufi saints and schools of thought.

In a world threatened by religious wars, depleting natural resources, a crumbling ecosystem, and alienation and isolation, what has happened to our humanity? Who are we and what are we doing here? The Sufi path offers a journey toward truth, to a knowledge that transcends our mundane concerns, selfish desires, and fears. In Sufism we find a wisdom that brings peace and a relationship with God that nurtures the best in us and in others.

Noted scholar Seyyed Hossein Nasr helps you learn the secret wisdom tradition of Islam and enter what the ancient mystics call the "garden of truth." Here, liberate your mind, experience peace, discover your purpose, fall in love with the Divine, and find your true, best self.

Ibn al-'Arabi (d. 1240) was one of the towering figures of Islamic intellectual history, and among Sufis still bears the title of al-shaykh al-akbar, or "the greatest master." Ibn al-'Arabi and Islamic Intellectual Culture traces the history of the concept of "oneness of being" (wahdat al-wujud) in the school of Ibn al- 'Arabi, in order to explore the relationship between mysticism and philosophy in Islamic intellectual life. It examines how the conceptual language used by early mystical writers became increasingly engaged over time with the broader Islamic intellectual culture, eventually becoming integrated with the latter's common philosophical and theological vocabulary. It focuses on four successive generations of thinkers (Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi, Mu'ayyad al-Din al-Jandi, 'Abd al-Razzaq al-Kashani, and Dawud al-Qaysari), and examines how these "philosopher-mystics" refined and developed the ideas of Ibn al-'Arabi. Through a close analysis of texts, the book clearly traces the crystallization of an influential school of thought in Islamic history and its place in the broader intellectual culture. Offering an exploration of the development of Sufi expression and thought, this book will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of Islamic thought, philosophy, and mysticism.

Freedom of speech and extremism in university campuses are major sources of debate and moral panic in the United Kingdom today. In 2018, the Joint Committee on Human Rights in Parliament undertook an inquiry into freedom of speech on campus. It found that much of the public concern is exaggerated, but identified a number of factors that require attention, including the impact of government counter-terrorism measures (the Prevent Duty) and regulatory bodies (including the Charity Commission for England and Wales) on freedom of speech. This book combines empirical research and philosophical analysis to explore these issues, with a particular focus on the impact upon Muslim students and staff. It offers a new conceptual paradigm for thinking about freedom of speech, based on deliberative democracy, and practical suggestions for universities in handling it. Topics covered include * The enduring legacy of key thinkers who have shaped the debate about freedom of speech * The role of right-wing populism in driving moral panic about universities * The impact of the Prevent Duty and the Charity Commission upon Muslim students, students' unions and university managers * Students' and staff views about freedom of speech * Alternative approaches to handling freedom of speech on campus, including the Community of Inquiry This highly engaging and topical text will be of interest to those working within public policy, religion and education or religion and politics and Islamic Studies.

'Lyrical and uncompromising - Suhaiymah writes to disrupt' - gal-dem Islamophobia is everywhere. It is a narrative and history woven so deeply into our everyday lives that we don't even notice it - in our education, how we travel, our healthcare, legal system and at work. Behind the scenes it affects the most vulnerable, at the border and in prisons. Despite this, the conversation about Islamophobia is relegated to microaggressions and slurs. Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan reveals how Islamophobia not only lives under the skin of those who it marks, but is an international political project designed to divide people in the name of security, in order to materially benefit global stakeholders. It can only be truly uprooted when we focus not on what it is but what it does. Tangled in Terror shows that until the most marginalised Muslims are safe, nobody is safe.

Umar was the second of the four 'rightly guided' caliphs. At first, he railed against the new Islam religion until he read parts of the Quran. He was instantly impressed and became a believer. Umar is credited for establishing most of the major political institutions of the Muslim state and stabilising the rapidly expanding Arab empire.

Rivals in the Gulf: Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Abdullah Bin Bayyah, and the Qatar-UAE Contest Over the Arab Spring and the Gulf Crisis details the relationships between the Egyptian Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi and the Al Thani royal family in Qatar, and between the Mauritanian Shaykh Abdullah Bin Bayyah and the Al Nahyans, the rulers of Abu Dhabi and senior royal family in the United Arab Emirates. These relationships stretch back decades, to the early 1960s and 1970s respectively. Using this history as a foundation, the book examines the connections between Qaradawi's and Bin Bayyah's rival projects and the development of Qatar's and the UAE's competing state-brands and foreign policies. It raises questions about how to theorize the relationships between the Muslim scholarly-elite (the ulama) and the nation-state. Over the course of the Arab Spring and the Gulf Crisis, Qaradawi and Bin Bayyah shaped the Al Thani's and Al Nahyan's competing ideologies in important ways. Offering new ways for academics to think about Doha and Abu Dhabi as hegemonic centers of Islamic scholarly authority alongside historical centers of learning such as Cairo, Medina, or Qom, this book will appeal to those with an interest in modern Islamic authority, the ulama, Gulf politics, as well as the Arab Spring and its aftermath.

A rich history of wanderers, exiles and intruders. A haunting personal journey through Central Asia. An intimate reflection on mixed identity shaped by cultural crossings. In the late 1800s, a group of German-speaking Mennonites fled Russia for Muslim Central Asia, to await Christ's return. Over a century later, Sofia Samatar traces their gruelling journey across desert and mountains, and its improbable fruit: a small Christian settlement inside the Khanate of Khiva. Named 'The White Mosque' after the Mennonites' whitewashed church, the village-a community of peace, prophecy, music and martyrs-lasted fifty years. Within this curious tale, Sofia discovers a tapestry of characters connected by the ancient Silk Road: a fifteenth-century astronomer-king; an intrepid Swiss woman traveller; the first Uzbek photographer; a free spirit of the Harlem Renaissance. Along the way, in a voice both warm and wise, she explores her own complex upbringing as an American Mennonite of colour, the daughter of a Swiss-American Christian and a Somali Muslim. On this pilgrimage to a lost village and a near-forgotten history, Samatar traces the porous borders of identity and narrative. When you leave your tribe, what remains? How do we enter the stories of others? And how, out of life's buried archives and startling connections, does a person construct a self?

The objective of Arab Criminology is to establish a criminological sub-field called 'Arab Criminology.' The ever-evolving field of criminology has advanced in the past decade, yet many impediments remain. Unlike criminology in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Oceania based merely on geopolitical constructs, the Arab world has unique commonalities that do not exist in the other established sub-fields on criminology. The Arab world has largely remained in criminology's periphery despite the region's considerable importance to current international affairs. In response, this book explores two main questions: Why should we and how do we establish a sub-field in Arab Criminology? The authors examine the state of criminology in the Arab world, define its parameters, and present four components that bond and distinguish Arab criminology from other criminological area studies. They then identify the requirements for establishing Arab criminology and detail how local, regional, and international researchers can collaborate, develop, and expand the sub-field. Arab Criminology will challenge some of the recurrent Orientalist and Islamophobic tropes in Northern criminology and progress the discipline of criminology to reflect a more diverse focus that embraces regions from the Global South. Presenting compelling arguments and examples that support the establishment of this sub-field, Arab Criminology will be of great interest to Criminology, Criminal Justice, Legal Studies, and Middle Eastern/North African studies scholars, particularly those working on Southern Criminology, Comparative Criminology, International Criminal Justice Systems, and Arab studies.

To be a Muslim is to be a part of a culture with distinct beliefs, ideas, institutional forms and prescriptive roles. Yet there is a complex inter-relationship between a system of knowledge and belief, such as Islam, and the immediate political, economic and social context of its adherents. This book aims to improve understanding of Muslim social and political action by examining a broad spectrum of Muslim discourse, both written and spoken, to see how meaning is formed by context. It is a broad comparative study and examines discourses produced in opposition to government as well as those produced, in Iran or Pakistan for example, under an authoritarian Islamic state. Through cogent analyses of socio-historical contexts and textual materials from East Java, Nigeria, Iran, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maghreb and Egypt, this book shows how to 'read' a familiar Islamic movement, period of change or textual source in a newer and better light. First published in 1987.

This book reflects on major themes present at the interface between religion and human security in Africa. It probes the extent to which religion is both a threat to and a resource for human security in Africa by examining specific issues occurring across the continent. A team of contributors from across Africa provide valuable reflections on the conceptualisation and applicability of the concept of human security in the context of religion in Africa. Chapters highlight how themes such as knowledge systems, youth, education, race, development, sacred texts, the media, sexual diversity, health and others have implications for individual and group security. In order to bring these themes into perspective, chapters in the first section reflect on the conceptual, historical and contextual factors at play. The chapters that follow demonstrate the theories put forward by means of case studies from countries such as Zimbabwe, Kenya, Botswana and Ghana that look at African religion, Islam and Christianity. This is a detailed and informative volume that provides new insights into the discourse on religion and human security. As such, it will be of significant use to any scholar of Religion and Violence, Religion in Africa and Religious Studies, as well as African and Security Studies more generally.

Islamic Psychology: The Basics is a jargon-free and accessible introduction that explores psychology from an Islamic perspective, and provides a foundation level overview of the fundamental principles and practices of Islamic psychology. The book introduces concepts, models, approaches, themes, and theories you need to know to study the mind, soul, and behaviour based on Islamic scripture. Offering an overview of Islamic psychology and what Islamic psychologists do, chapters address key topics including the history of the evolution of the science of the soul, and the psychology of human behaviour and experiences. Rassool examines the concepts of the Fitrah, the Nafs (Self), the Aql (Intellect), the Ruh (Soul) the Qalb (Heart), and the concept of Islamic healing and spiritual interventions. Other themes include the Qur'an and psychology, models and approaches in Islamic psychology, interpreting Islamic psychology for modern times, and the contemporary scope of the practice of Islamic psychology. Outlining the challenges and solutions of the development of Islamic psychology and potential future trends, and including features to aid learning, this is the ideal introductory book for students in Psychology, Islamic Psychology, and Islamic Studies, as well as professionals including counsellors and therapists, and anyone interested in psychology from an Islamic perspective. Dr. G.Hussein Rassool is a Professor of Islamic Psychology & Consultant at the Riphah Institute of Clinical and Professional Psychology/Centre for Islamic Psychology, Riphah International University.

This book sets out a rationale for the compatibility of Islam and Feminism and shows that Islamic Feminism is a diverse and valuable lens through which to analyse religion and gender. In addition, including scholarship written in Arabic, it promotes the decolonisation of knowledge production around Islam, gender and sexuality. Islamic feminism is a field of study that has been marginalised both in contemporary Islamic discourse and in feminist discourse. This study counters this marginalisation in two ways. Firstly, it enumerates the diversity of approaches used in Islamic feminist scholarship. Secondly, it foregrounds voices that are often neglected in discussions of Islam, gender and sexuality by highlighting and contrasting the work of two key scholars: Kecia Ali based in the USA and Olfa Youssef based in Tunisia. The book suggests that in addition to geo-political positioning, language, as a 'prior-text', also influences an individual's personal interpretation of Islamic feminism. This comparison, therefore, enables broader issues to be dissected, such as the interrelationships between life experiences, strategies of resistance to patriarchal and other forms of oppression, and the production of knowledge. This is a unique study of Islamic Feminism that will be of great use to any scholar of Religion and Gender, Islamic Studies, Gender Studies and the Sociology of Religion.

This comprehensive introduction explores the landscape of contemporary Islam. Written by a distinguished team of scholars, it: provides broad overviews of the developments, events, people and movements that have defined Islam in the three majority-Muslim regions traces the connections between traditional Islamic institutions and concerns, and their modern manifestations and transformations. How are medieval ideas, policies and practices refashioned to address modern circumstances investigates new themes and trends that are shaping the modern Muslim experience such as gender, fundamentalism, the media and secularisation offers case studies of Muslims and Islam in dynamic interaction with different societies. Islam in the Modern World includes illustrations, summaries, discussion points and suggestions for further reading that will aid understanding and revision. Additional resources are provided via a companion website.

The author includes cutting-edge case studies from across North America in order to instigate debate, debunk misconceptions and foster productive dialogue. Unlike any existing books, this textbook focuses on Muslim women in both America and Canada. This book is an invaluable resource for scholars and students in the fields of Islamic and Muslim Studies, Gender Studies, International Relations, Political Science and Sociology.