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.

Analyses a wide range of early modern literary works and their references to Islam Includes analyses of some iconic works. Draws attention to the significance of some less well-known known works. Examines interface between literature, politics, and culture. Uses a range of theoretical tools to identify trends against their sociopolitical background. Critiques assumptions of racial and religious superiority. Draws out contemporary implications for today's world.

Focuses on one particular treasure from surviving Persian manuscripts in India. Addresses controversial topics in religion, such as the struggles between Shi'a and Sunni Muslims, and the controversies between Shuhudis and Wujudis. Clarifies and systematizes 'Andalib's Sufism.

In the public sphere, it is often assumed that acts of violence carried out by Muslims are inspired by their religious commitment and encouraged by the Qur'an. Some people express similar concerns about the scriptures and actions of Christians and Jews. Might they be right? What role do scriptural texts play in motivating and justifying violence in these three traditions? Scripture and Violence explores the complex relationship between scriptural texts and real-world acts of violence. A variety of issues are addressed, including the prevalent modern tendency to express more concern about other people's texts and violence than one's own, to treat interpretation and application of scriptural passages as self-evident, and to assume that the actions of religious people are directly motivated by what they read in scriptures. Contributions come from a diverse group of scholars of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity with varying perspectives on the issues. Highlighting the complex relationship between texts and human actions, this is an essential read for students and academics studying religion and violence, Abrahamic religions, or scriptural interpretation. Scripture and Violence will also be of interest to researchers working on religion and politics, sociology and anthropology of religion, socio-political approaches to scriptural texts, and issues surrounding religion, secularity, and the public sphere. This volume could also form a basis for discussions in churches, synagogues, mosques, interfaith settings, and government agencies. The editors of Scripture and Violence have also set up a website including lesson plans/discussion guides for the different chapters in the book, available here: https://www.scriptureandviolence.org/scripture-and-violence-book-and-chapter-discussion-guides

This new fatwa from the renowned authority of Islamic world, Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, leader of the overwhelming majority of Muslims deals a devstating blow to al-Qaeda and its affiliates by removing decisively any remnant of theological justifications for terrorism. In what is the most comprehensive edict on this topic in the history of Islam, Dr. Qadri has explicated how suicide bombings and terrorism is unequivocally un-Islamic and has condemned terrorism unconditionally without any "ifs and buts." Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri is a globally recognised authority on the Islamic and International law and Islamic scholarship. Drawing on his deep, erudite insight into the life and teaching of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and fourteen centuries of Islamic scholarship, Dr Qadri's 512-page, detailed fatwa demolishes the theological arguements advanced by terrorists in prisons, on websites, videos and their literature which are root causes of today's home grown terrorists which the west is trying to tackle. For the first time available in the United States this contains a foreword by the Washington D.C. based expert on Islam, Prof John Esposito of Georgetown University and Introduction by Dr. Joel Hayward (Royal Air Force College, UK) and a validation by Al-Azhar University, Egypt who have supported this fatwa.

Using the high-profile 2017 blasphemy trial of the former governor of Jakarta, Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama, as its sole case study, this book assesses whether Indonesia's liberal democratic human rights legal regime can withstand the rise of growing Islamist majoritarian sentiment. Specifically, this book analyses whether a 2010 decision of Indonesia's Constitutional Court has rendered the liberal democratic human rights guarantees contained in Indonesia's 1945 Constitution ineffective. Key legal documents, including the indictment issued by the North Jakarta Attorney-General and General Prosecutor, the defence's 'Notice of Defence', and the North Jakarta State Court's convicting judgment, are examined. The book shows how Islamist majoritarians in Indonesia have hijacked human rights discourse by attributing new, inaccurate meanings to key liberal democratic concepts. This has provided them with a human rights law-based justification for the prioritisation of the religious sensibilities and religious orthodoxy of Indonesia's Muslim majority over the fundamental rights of the country's religious minorities. While Ahok's conviction evidences this, the book cautions that matters pertaining to public religion will remain a site of contestation in contemporary Indonesia for the foreseeable future. A groundbreaking study of the Ahok trial, the blasphemy law, and the contentious politics of religious freedom and cultural citizenship in Indonesia, this book will be of interest to academics working in the fields of religion, Islamic studies, religious studies, law and society, law and development, law reform, constitutionalism, politics, history and social change, and Southeast Asian studies.

Brings together two academic fields that have been infrequently in full conversation: papyrology and the study of religion. Offers the latest research on the topic, focusing on a diverse range of case studies from different religious groups and documents written in numerous contemporary languages.

This book discusses the evolution of state governance of Islam and the nature and forms of local Muslims' rediscovery of their 'Muslimness' across post-communist Eurasia. It examines the effects on the Islamic scene of the political and ideological divergence of Central and South-Eastern Europe from Russia and most of the Caucasus and Central Asia. Of particular interest are the implications of the proliferation of new, 'global' interpretations of Islam and their relationship with existing 'traditional' Islamic beliefs and practices. The contributions in this book address these issues through an interdisciplinary prism combining history, religious studies/theology, social anthropology, sociology, ethnology and political science. They analyse the greater public presence of Islam in constitutionally secular contexts and offer a critique of the domestication and accommodation of Islam in Europe, comparing these to what has happened in the international Eurasian space. The discussion is informed by the works of such thinkers as Talal Asad, Bryan Turner, Veit Bader, Marcel Maussen and Bassam Tibi, and utilises primary and secondary sources and ethnographic observation. Looking at how collectivities and individuals are defining what it means to be Muslim in a globalised Islamic context, this book will be of great interest to scholars of Religious Studies, Islamic Studies, Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology.

The first Christians to encounter Islam were not Latin-speakers from the western Mediterranean or Greek-speakers from Constantinople but Mesopotamian Christians who spoke the Aramaic dialect of Syriac. Under Muslim rule from the seventh century onward, Syriac Christians wrote the most extensive descriptions extant of early Islam. Seldom translated and often omitted from modern historical reconstructions, this vast body of texts reveals a complicated and evolving range of religious and cultural exchanges that took place from the seventh to the ninth century. The first book-length analysis of these earliest encounters, Envisioning Islam highlights the ways these neglected texts challenge the modern scholarly narrative of early Muslim conquests, rulers, and religious practice. Examining Syriac sources including letters, theological tracts, scientific treatises, and histories, Michael Philip Penn reveals a culture of substantial interreligious interaction in which the categorical boundaries between Christianity and Islam were more ambiguous than distinct. The diversity of ancient Syriac images of Islam, he demonstrates, revolutionizes our understanding of the early Islamic world and challenges widespread cultural assumptions about the history of exclusively hostile Christian-Muslim relations.

Early modern Protestant scholars closely engaged with Islamic thought in more ways than is usually recognized. Among Protestants, Lutheran scholars distinguished themselves as the most invested in the study of Islam and Muslim culture. Mehmet Karabela brings the neglected voices of post-Reformation theologians, primarily German Lutherans, into focus and reveals their rigorous engagement with Islamic thought. Inspired by a global history approach to religious thought, Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes offers new sources to broaden the conventional interpretation of the Reformation beyond a solely European Christian phenomenon. Based on previously unstudied dissertations, disputations, and academic works written in Latin in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Karabela analyzes three themes: Islam as theology and religion; Islamic philosophy and liberal arts; and Muslim sects (Sunni and Shi'a). This book provides analyses and translations of the Latin texts as well as brief biographies of the authors. These texts offer insight into the Protestant perception of Islamic thought for scholars of religious studies and Islamic studies as well as for general readers. Examining the influence of Islamic thought on the construction of the Protestant identity after the Reformation helps us to understand the role of Islam in the evolution of Christianity.

This work is a translation and study of a ninth- through fifteenth-century manuscript, a selection from a medieval book, "Kitab al-Hadaya wa al-Tuhaf" (Book of Gifts and Rarities), edited by M. Hamidullah. The manuscript furnishes a wealth of varied information offering insights into the period immediately preceding Islam and extending through the first four centuries of Islamic rule. The book provides valuable information on "gifts" exchanged on various occasions between Islamic rulers and their foreign counterparts. "Rarities" form a part of the gifts; some of them are marvels, others are mythical.

The manuscript is an invaluable source of information in many fields. It abounds with technical references and details in various areas of Islamic art, which renders it unique as a reference. The extensive detailed treatment, in the context of the overall material culture, provides a particularly rich source of information for those working both in the specific field of Islamic art and in that of Islamic culture as a whole.

This book is concerned with the rationality and plausibility of the Muslim faith and the Qur'an, and in particular how they can be interrogated and understood through Western analytical philosophy. It also explores how Islam can successfully engage with the challenges posed by secular thinking.

The Quran and the Secular Mind will be of interest to students and scholars of Islamic philosophy, philosophy of religion, Middle East studies, and political Islam.

Mutual aid or zakat giving is a sacred practice in Islam. In Palestinian neighborhoods of the West Bank, where the Islamic tradition shapes public life, a simple gift of money or food to a person in need can invoke the presence of God. In Divine Money, Emanuel Schaeublin shows how zakat institutions and direct zakat donations provide critical support to households in financial distress. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the ancient city of Nablus, Divine Money analyzes how zakat institutions work in the social and political context of contemporary Palestine and explores how embedding care in Islamic scripture helps community members negotiate the social tensions that arise around differences in financial security. In the absence of a reliable public safety net, many interpret acts of zakat giving as an expression of God's generosity and evidence of His infinite ability to provide. Such invocations of the divine in charitable interactions provide both community support and a means to live a good and ethical Muslim life, even during times of political repression and economic stagnation.

This book introduces and examines the work of two significant 21st century Christian - Muslim dialogue initiatives - "Building Bridges" and the "Christian-Muslim Theological Forum" - and gives close attention to five theological themes that have been addressed in common by them. An overview and analysis, including inception, development, outputs and significance, together with discussion of the select themes - community, scripture, prophecy, prayer and ethics - allows for an in-depth examination of significant contemporary Muslim and Christian scholarship on issues important to both faith communities. The result is a challenging encounter to, arguably, a widespread default presumption of irredeemable mutual hostility and inevitable mutual rejection with instances of violent extremism as a consequence. Demonstrating the reality that deep interreligious engagement is possible between the two faiths today, this book should appeal to a wide readership, including upper undergraduate and graduate teaching as well as professionals and practitioners in the field of Christian-Muslim relations.

Of the several works on the rise and development of the Babi movement, especially those dealing with the life and work of its founder, Sayyid Ali Muhammad Shirazi, few deal directly with the compelling and complex web of mysticism, theology and philosophy found in his earliest compositions. This book examines the Islamic roots of the Babi religion, (and by extension the later Baha'i faith which developed out of it), through the Qur'anic commentaries of the Bab and sheds light on its relationship to the wider religious milieu and its profound debt to esoteric Islam, especially Shi'ism. Todd Lawson places the two earliest writings of the Bab within the diverse contexts necessary to understand them, in order to explain why these writings made sense to and inspired his followers. He delves into the history of the tafsir (Qur'an commentary) genre of Islamic scholarship, situates these early writings in the Akhbari, Sufi and most importantly Shaykhi traditions of Islam. In the process, he identifies both the continuities and discontinuities between these works and earlier works of Shi'i tafsir, helping us appreciate significant elements of the Bab's thought and claims. Filling an important gap in the existing literature on the Babi movement, this book will be of greatest interest to students and scholars of Qur'an commentary, Mysticism, Shi'ism, the modern history of Iran and messianism.

Exploring the diverse myriad of female religious identities that exist within the various branches of the Moroccan Sufi Order, Qadiriyya Budshishiyya, today, this book evidences a wide array of religious identities, from those more typical of Berber culture, to those characterised by a 'sober' approach to Sufism, as well as those that denote New Age eclecticism. The book researches the ways in which religious discourses are corporeally endorsed. After providing an overview of the Order historically and today, enunciating the processes by which this local tariqa from North-eastern Morocco has become the international organization that it is now, the book explores the religious body in movement, in performance, and in relation to the social order. It analyses pilgrimage by assessing the annual visit that followers of Hamza Budshish make to the central lodge of the Order in Madagh; it explores bodily religious enactments in ritual performance, by discussing the central practices of Sufi ritual as manifested in the Budshishiyya, and delves attention into diverse understandings of faith healing and health issues. Women and Sufism provides a detailed insight into religious healing, sufi rituals and sufi pilgrimage, and is essential reading for those seeking to understand Islam in Morocco, or those with an interest in Anthropology and Middle East studies more generally.

Among international financial centres (IFCs), London is known as the 'Western hub of Islamic Finance', on account of its well-developed legal infrastructure. However, Brexit has threatened London's status and consequently, the financial services industry is moving to Dublin to continue operating in the Euro region. Similarly, Islamic finance (IF) service providers in the UK are also looking to Dublin for expansion of this niche area in euro member states. This is the first book to be written about Islamic finance operations in the Eurozone. The book offers an in-depth description of International Financial Centres and the growth of Islamic Finance, compares the growth of Islamic finance in London, Dubai and Kuala Lumpur, outlines the implications of Brexit for financial service providers in London in general and Islamic investors in particular and also presents a case study of Ireland to establish the latter as the most appropriate country to promote IF in the Eurozone. The time is particularly right for a book exploring the potential of Ireland to emerge as a Eurozone hub of Islamic finance, as a result of Britain's exit from Europe. The book will cater to the needs of readers studying IF in the disciplines of economics, business, law, and religion. A secondary market includes practitioners, such as policymakers, lawyers, fund managers, accountants, regulators and international investors, who will be interested in exploring the benefits that the UK and Ireland have to offer the Islamic finance industry.

A pioneering text offering interdisciplinary and interreligious insights into debates abut ecological equilibrium. This book is te first comparative study of John Boswell Cobb and Seyyed Hossein Nasr's eco-religious theories. A critical resource for policy makers, faith leaders and academics researching the interrelationship between Environmental Studies and Religious Studies.

This book contends that the discourses of jihadism in Russia's North Caucasus, and their offshoots in other parts of the Russian Federation, are not just reflections of jihadi ideologies that came from abroad, rather that post-Soviet jihadism is a phenomenon best understood when placed in the broader cultural environment in which it emerged, an environment which comprises the North Caucasus, the whole of Russia, and beyond. It examines how post-Soviet jihadism is also part of global processes, in this case, global jihadism, explores how post-Soviet jihadism bears the imprint of the preceding Soviet context especially in terms of symbols, discursive tools, interpretational frameworks, and dissemination strategies, and discusses how, ironically, Russian-speaking jihadism is an expansionist idea for uniting all Russian regions on a supra-ethnic principle, but an idea that was not born in Moscow or St. Petersburg. Overall, the book demonstrates that Russian-speaking jihadism is a completely new ideology, which nevertheless has its origins in the intellectual and cultural heritage of the Soviet era and in the broader trends of post-Soviet society and culture.

In Unknowing and the Everyday Seema Golestaneh examines how Sufi mystical experience in Iran shapes contemporary life. Central to this process is ma'rifat, or "unknowing"-the idea that, as it is ultimately impossible to fully understand the divine, humanity must operate from an engaged awareness that it knows nothing. Golestaneh shows that rather than considering ma'rifat an obstacle to intellectual engagement, Sufis embrace that there will always be that which they do not know. From this position, they affirm both the limits of human knowledge and the mysteries of the profane world. Through ethnographic case studies, Golestaneh traces the affective and sensory dimensions of ma'rifat in contexts such as the creation of collective Sufi spaces, the interpretation of Persian poetry, formulations of selfhood and non-selfhood, and the navigation of the socio-material realm. By outlining the relationship between ma'rifat and religious, aesthetic, and social life in Iran, Golestaneh demonstrates that for Sufis the outer bounds of human thought are the beginning rather than the limit.

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.

The role of Islam in public spaces is one of the most prevalent political questions in Europe. Contestations around the construction of mosques, the ban of Islamic veils and populist rhetoric about "problematic" neighbourhoods indicate Europe's struggles with the place of its second largest religion. This book advocates for an analytical turn in the study of Islam in Europe using space as a central conceptual lens. While spatial approaches are gaining traction in the study of religion, migration, ethnicity, race, and politics, the chapters in this book argue that the critical potential of a spatialised analysis in the field of Islam in Europe remains largely unexplored. This volume presents a collection of nine empirical studies that offer insights into how scholars might exploit the category of space when analysing both current political issues and broader conceptual questions in the social sciences. And more specifically, how does a spatial perspective on Islam contribute to a deeper understanding of the formations of the state, ethnicity, race, secularism, gender, and colonial structures? Rethinking Islam and Space in Europe is a significant new contribution to racial and ethnic studies in Europe, and will be a great resource for academics, researchers, and advanced students of Politics, Sociology, Social and Political Geography, Anthropology and Religious Studies. The chapters in this book were originally published as a 2021 special issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies.

William A. Graham is an influential and pioneering scholar of Islamic Studies at Harvard University. This volume brings together 17 contributions to the study of the Qur'an and Islam, all influenced by his work. Contributions to this collection, by his colleagues and students, treat many different aspects of Islamic scripture, from textual interpretation and hermeneutics to recitation and parallels with the Bible. Other chapters tackle in diverse ways the question of what it means to be "Islamic" and how such an identity may be constituted and maintained in history, thought, and learning. A final section reflects on the career of William Graham and the relation of scholarship to the undervalued tasks of academic administration, especially where the study of religion is concerned. This book will be of interest to readers of Islamic Studies, Qur'anic Studies, Islamic history, Religious Studies, scripture, exegesis, and history of the book. Given Graham's role at the Harvard Divinity School, and the discussions of how he has shaped the study of religion, the volume should be of interest to readership across the study of religion as a whole. Chapters 2 and 15 of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. They have been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

The Routledge Handbook of South Asian Religions presents critical research, overviews, and case studies on religion in historical South Asia, in the seven nation states of contemporary South Asia: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, and in the South Asian diaspora. Chapters by an international set of experts analyse formative developments, roots, changes and transformations, religious practices and ideas, identities, relations, territorialisation, and globalisation in historical and contemporary South Asia. The Handbook is divided into two parts which first analyse historical South Asian religions and their developments and second contemporary South Asia religions that are influenced by both religious pluralism and their close connection to nation states and their ideological power. Contributors argue that religion has been used as a tool for creating nations as well as majorities within those nations in South Asia, despite their enormous diversity, in particular religious diversity. The Handbook explores these diversities and tensions, historical developments, and the present situation across religious traditions by utilising an array of approaches and from the point of view of various academic disciplines. Drawing together a remarkable collection of leading and emerging scholars, this handbook is an invaluable research tool and will be of interest to researchers and students in the fields of Asian religion, religion in context, and South Asian religions.