Islamic economics and finance has recently enjoyed a spike in interest and a rise in status from theology-tinged discussion fodder for Muslim intellectuals to a fully fledged academic discipline knocking on the doors of university social science departments. The Handbook of Empirical Research on Islam and Economic Life provides a solid background and overview of current empirical research, evaluating how well Islamic institutions have performed in pursuing their objectives. With contributions from leading scholars, this unique Handbook provides chapters examining a range of phenomena in Islamic finance, focusing on five main research areas: religion and growth, Islamic social finance, Islamic banking and finance, Islamic capital market and Sukuk (Islamic bonds). This selection of research literature provides: - a socio-economic profile of Muslim countries - an outline of Islamic systems of accounting and governance - an analysis of the religion-development link - a consideration of the role of the state under Islam. Scholars of finance and Islam in Muslim and in Western universities, students in graduate and post-graduate courses in Islamic studies, and Islamic research institutes and libraries in Western, Middle Eastern and Asian universities will all find great value in this vital resource and its exploration of a compelling approach to finance. Contributors include: A.U.F. Ahmad, M.S. Akhtar, E. Aksak, M.A.M. Al JanabiIhsan Isik, N. Alam, F. Alqahtani, S.O. Alhabshi, C. Aloui, S.B. Anceaur, D. Ashraf, M. Asutay, A.F. Aysan, O. Bacha, A. Barajas, M. Bekri, C. De Anca, G. Dewandaru, M. Disli, A.O. El Aloui, M. Farooq, K. Gazdar, R. Grassa, H.B. Hamida, M.K. Hassan, R. Hayat, C.M. Henry, J. Howe, M.H. Ibrahim, M. Jahrom, K. Jouaber-Snoussi, F. Kamarudin, M. Khawaja, H. Khan, K. Khan, O. Krasicka, M.T. Majeed, N.A.K. Malim, M. Masih, A. Massara, D.G. Mayes, A.K.M. Meera, M. Mehri, C. Mertzanis, H.S. Min, M.A. Mobin, Y.A. Nainggolan, M. Naseri, A.M. Nassir, A. Ng, S. Nowak, M.S. Nurzaman, M. Omran, H. Ozturk, M. Rashid, M.E.S.M. Rashid, R.M. Shafi, A. Shah, N.S. Shirazi, F. Sufian, G.M.W. Ullah, P. Verhoeven, L. Weill, S. Zaheer, S.R.S.M. Zain, A. Zarka

This second collective volume of the series The Presence of the Prophet explores the growing importance of the figure of the Prophet Muhammad for questions of authority and power in early modern and modern times. The authors provide a rich collection of case studies on how Muhammad's material, spiritual, and genealogical heritage has been claimed for the foundation of Muslim empires, revolutionary movements, the formation of modern nation states and ideologies, as well as for communal mobilization and social reform. This novel comparative, and diachronic study, which is unique for its wide coverage of regional cases and perspectives, reveals diverse political representations of the Prophet in an increasingly globalised struggle over the control of his image between secularization and sacralization. Contributors Gianfranco Bria, Rachida Chih, Christoph Gunther, Gottfried Hagen, Jan-Peter Hartung, David Jordan, Soraya Khodamoradi, Jamal Malik, Catherine Mayeur-Jaouen, Alix Philippon, Martin Riexinger, Stefan Reichmuth, Dilek Sarmis, Renaud Soler, Jaafar Ben El Haj Soulami, Florian Zemmin.

In Reflecting Mirrors, East and West Enrico Boccaccini sheds new light on Mirrors for Princes, the pre-modern genre of advice literature for rulers. A popular genre in the societies that emerged from the Late Antique oecumene, Mirrors for Princes are considered here, for the first time, as a transcultural phenomenon that challenges the dichotomy of the Orient and the Occident. Traditionally, the historiographic tradition has viewed 'European' and 'Middle Eastern' Mirrors as distinct and incommensurable. Analyzing the contents and discourses in four Mirrors, ostensibly separated by space, time and language, Enrico Boccaccini convincingly draws out the surprising continuities between these texts, while also showing how they are embedded in their own historical, literary and political context.

The Qur'anic surahs and passages that are customarily taken to postdate Muhammad's emigration to Medina occupy a key position in the formative period of Islam: they fundamentally shaped later convictions about Muhammad's paradigmatic authority and universal missionary remit; they constitute an important basis for Islam's development into a religion with a strong legal focus; and they demarcate the Qur'anic community from Judaism and Christianity. The volume exemplifies a rich array of approaches to the challenges posed by this part of the Qur'an, including its distinctive literary and doctrinal features, its relationship to other late antique traditions, and the question of oral composition. Contributors are Karen Bauer, Saqib Hussain, Marianna Klar, Joseph E. Lowry, Angelika Neuwirth, Andrew J. O'Connor, Cecilia Palombo, Nora K. Schmid, Nicolai Sinai, Devin J. Stewart, Gabriel S. Reynolds, Neal Robinson and Holger Zellentin.

From the Greeks to the Arabs and Beyond written by Hans Daiber, is a six volume collection of Daiber's scattered writings, journal articles, essays and encyclopaedia entries on Greek-Syriac-Arabic translations, Islamic theology and Sufism, the history of science, Islam in Europe, manuscripts and the history of oriental studies. It also includes reviews and obituaries. Vol. V and VI are catalogues of newly discovered Arabic manuscript originals and films/offprints from manuscripts related to the topics of the preceding volumes.

The three-volume series titled The Presence of the Prophet in Early Modern and Contemporary Islam, is the first attempt to explore the dynamics of the representation of the Prophet Muhammad in the course of Muslim history until the present. This first collective volume outlines his figure in the early Islamic tradition, and its later transformations until recent times that were shaped by Prophet-centered piety and politics. A variety of case studies offers a unique overview of the interplay of Sunni amd Shi'i doctrines with literature and arts in the formation of his image. They trace the integrative and conflictual qualities of a "Prophetic culture", in which the Prophet of Islam continues his presence among the Muslim believers. Contributors Hiba Abid, Nelly Amri, Caterina Bori, Francesco Chiabotti, Rachida Chih, Adrien de Jarmy, Daniel De Smet, Mohamed Thami El Harrak, Brigitte Foulon, Denis Gril, Christiane Gruber, Tobias Heinzelmann, David Jordan, Pierre Lory, Catherine Mayeur-Jaouen, Samuela Pagani, Alexandre Papas, Michele Petrone, Stefan Reichmuth, Meryem Sebti, Dilek Sarmis, Matthieu Terrier, Jean-Jacques Thibon, Marc Toutant, Ruggiero Vimercati Sanseverino.

Cultural Pearls from the East offers fascinating insights into Muslim-Arab culture and the evolution of its intellectual nature and literary texts from early Islam to modern times. The textual analysis of largely unexplored literary works and chronicles that epitomize this volume highlight the affinity between culture, society, and politics, exploring these issues from both thematic and comparative perspectives. Among the topics examined in depth: Arabic poetry of warfare at the dawn of Islam; medieval poems about venerated sites and saints; Ottoman and Egyptian chronicles portraying the socioreligious landscapes of Egypt and the Fertile Crescent under the Ottoman Empire and in the shadow of growing European encroachment; and Arab-Jewish literature dealing with suppression, exile, and identity. Contributors: Ghaleb Anabseh, Albert Arazi, Meir M. Bar-Asher, Peter Chelkowski, Geula Elimelekh, Sigal Goorj, Jane Hathaway, Meir Hatina, Yair Huri-Horesh, Amir Lerner, Menachem Milson, Gabriel M. Rosenbaum, Joseph Sadan, Yona Sheffer, Norman (Noam) A. Stillman, Ibrahim Taha, Michael Winter, Eman Younis

In Moroccan Female Religious Agents: Old Practices and New Perspectives, Ouguir studies Moroccan female religious agents in particular historical women saints and Sufis, the way they constructed powerful saintly personalities that challenged the dominant conventional norms, and the way they are received by venerators and feminist Islamist activists of modern Morocco. Through hagiographic and oral narratives, Ouguir examines the techniques religious women followed to achieve ethical self-formation and strong religious personalities that promoted them to leadership. She also examined the venerators', murshid t and Islamist feminists' reception of women saints in their discourses. Ouguir states convincingly that Moroccan religious women agents in both Morocco's past and present are to be highlighted for broader discourses on Muslim women and feminism.

Essay on Islamization is a study of the Islamization of all Muslim societies and their conversion to orthodox Islam which, with its chapels, soldier monks and holy war, leads to fundamentalism as well as to a moral puritanism. Cherkaoui gauges the importance of this global phenomenon by analyzing the empirical data of some sixty Muslim and non-Muslim societies. He also conducts two ethnographic surveys to identify the metamorphoses of Muslim religious practices and their causes.