From a renowned historian who writes with "maximum vividness" ("The New Yorker") comes the most authoritative, readable single-volume history of the brutal struggle for the holy land

Nine hundred years ago, a vast Christian army, summoned to holy war by the Pope, rampaged through the Muslim world of the eastern Mediterranean, seizing possession of Jerusalem, a city revered by both faiths. Over the two hundred years that followed, Islam and Christianity fought for dominion of the Holy Land, clashing in a succession of chillingly brutal wars: the Crusades. Here for the first time is the story of that epic struggle told from the perspective of both Christians and Muslims. A vivid and fast-paced narrative history, it exposes the full horror, passion, and barbaric grandeur of the Crusading era, revealing how these holy wars reshaped the medieval world and why they continue to influence events today.

Muhsin is one of the organizers of Al-Fitra Foundation, a South African support group for lesbian, transgender, and gay Muslims. Islam and homosexuality are seen by many as deeply incompatible. This, according to Muhsin, is why he had to act. "I realized that I'm not alone-these people are going through the very same things that I'm going through. But I've managed, because of my in-depth relationship with God, to reconcile the two. I was completely comfortable saying to the world that I'm gay and I'm Muslim. I wanted to help other people to get there. So that's how I became an activist."Living Out Islamdocuments the rarely-heard voices of Muslims who live in secular democratic countries and who are gay, lesbian, and transgender. It weaves original interviews with Muslim activists into a compelling composite picture which showcases the importance of the solidarity of support groups in the effort to change social relationships and achieve justice. This nascent movement is not about being "out" as opposed to being "in the closet." Rather, as the voices of these activists demonstrate, it is about finding ways to live out Islam with dignity and integrity, reconciling their sexuality and gender with their faith and reclaiming Islam as their own.Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugleis Associate Professor in the Department of Middle East and South Asian Studies at Emory University. His previous books includeRebel between Spirit and Law: Ahmad Zarruq, Juridical Sainthood and Authority in Islam;Sufis and Saints' Bodies: Mysticism, Corporeality and Sacred Power in Islamic Culture; andHomosexuality in Islam: Critical Reflection on Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Muslims.

One of the best general introductions to Islamic law Despite its age this is still one of the best general introductions to Islamic law. It remains a standard work in scholarly bibliographies. Offering both a history and a critical analysis, this book is enriched by a 66-page appendix containing complete translations of primary texts. Macdonald 1863-1943], a professor at the Hartford Seminary, established the field of Islamic studies in the United States in 1893. His efforts led to the creation of what is now the Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at the Hartford Seminary. Introduction PART I Constitutional Development I. From Death of Muhammad to Rise of Abbasids II. To Rise of Ayyubids III. To Present Situation PART II Development of Jurisprudence I. To Close of Umayyad Period II. To Present Situation PART III Development of Theology I. To Close of Umayyad Period II. To Foundation of Fatamid Khalifate III. To Triumph of Ash'arites in East IV. Al-Ghazzali V. To Ibn Sab'in and End of Muwahhids VI. To Present Situation APPENDICES Illustrative Documents in Translation Selected Bibliography Chronological Table Index

Gershon Brin examines the development of biblical law, suggesting that it may be due to different authors with different legal outlooks, or that the differing policies were required in response to different social needs, etc. Biblical laws appearing in the Dead Sea Scrolls literature are treated in a separate unit. Study of this subject can shed light both on the biblical laws as such, as well as on the manner of their reworking by the Judaean Desert sect. Brin also discusses here questions of the style, the idea, and the historical and ideological background underlying the reworking of these laws in Qumran. The second part of the book presents a comprehensive picture of the issues involved in the laws of the first-born, a subject that has legal, social and religious implications.

Despite late reconsideration, a dominant paradigm rooted in Orientalist essentialisations of Islam as statically 'legalistic' and Muslims as uniformly 'transgressive' when local customs are engaged, continues to distort perspectives of South Asia's past and present. This has led to misrepresentations of pre-colonial Muslim norms and undue emphasis on colonial reforms alone when charting the course to post-coloniality. This book presents and challenges staple perspectives with a comprehensive reinterpretation of doctrinal sources, literary expressions and colonial records spanning the period from the reign of the 'Great Mughals' to end of the 'British Raj' (1526-1947). The result is an alternative vision of this transformative period in South Asian history, and an original paradigm of Islamic doctrine and Muslim practice applicable more broadly.

These and many other questions are answered in this informative introduction to Islam. Christians of all denominations will find reliable and up-to-date information on Islam and its relationship to Christianity. The first part of the book surveys the faith and life of Islam, exploring the subjects of the Quran, Muhammad, beliefs about God, justice and the law, women and family, and death and eternal life. Part 2 tells about Islam in North America, both its early history and the current situation. Part 3 describes various groups and movements within Islam. Part 4 looks at Islam and Christianity, their encounters in history, the Bible and the Quran, and how Jesus is regarded by Muslims. Part 5 presents a Christian evaluation of Islam. Carefully researched and clearly written, Islam: An Introduction for Christians is an ideal book for both individual and group use.

In Muslim al-Naysaburi (d. 261/875). The skeptical traditionalist, Pavel Pavlovitch studies the life and works of Muslim b. al-Hajjaj al-Naysaburi, the author of the famous collection of traditions (hadith) al-Musnad al-sahih (The Sound Collection), which Sunni Muslims rank as the third most authoritative source of legal and theological norms after the Qur'an and Muhammad b. Isma'il al-Bukhari's Sahih. Based on multiple biographical sources and Muslim's extant works, Pavel Pavlovitch studies hitherto unexplored aspects of Muslim's biography, elaborates on his founding contribution to the science of hadith criticism, and examines the transmission history of Muslim's Sahih in unprecedented detail. The monograph includes the first systematic study of Muslim's traditionalist theology, which played a defining role in the formation of Sunni identity.

The Journeys of a Taymiyyan Sufi explores the life and teachings of 'Imad al-Din Ahmad al-Wasiti (d. 711/1311), a little-known Hanbali Sufi master from the circle of Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328). The first part of this book follows al-Wasiti's physical journey in search of spiritual guidance through a critical study of his autobiographical writings. This provides unique insights into the Rifa'iyya, the Shadhiliyya, and the school of Ibn 'Arabi, several manifestations of Sufism that he encountered as he travelled from Wasit to Baghdad, Alexandria, and Cairo. Part I closes with his final destination, Damascus, where his membership of Ibn Taymiyya's circle and his role as a Sufi teacher is closely examined. The second part focuses on al-Wasiti's spiritual journey through a study of his Sufi writings, which convey the distinct type of traditionalist Sufism that he taught in early eighth/fourteenth-century Damascus. Besides providing an overview of the spiritual path unto God from beginning to end as he formulated it, this reveals an exceptional interplay between Sufi theory and traditionalist theology.

This four-volume compendium delves into topics such as the theology of rights in Islam, comparative explorations, and a historical study of human rights in Muslim-majority societies spanning Africa, the Middle East, and South and South East Asia during the 20th and early 21 centuries. Moreover, it explores how Muslim women and men have understood their faith and evolving notions of rights and liberties. Volume 1 analyzes the relationship between religion and human rights along with "Western" and "Islamic" human rights schemes. Volume 2 traces early and later Muslim responses to human rights during the 20th century. Volume 3 considers the political context in the struggle for human rights in Muslim societies by focusing on state-society relations. Volume 4 explores shari'ah and contemporary human rights controversies by surveying subjects such as: women's rights which is described as the locomotive of societal change, apostasy and blasphemy laws, as well as LGBT and labor rights.

The Third Edition of Brill s Encyclopaedia of Islam appears in four substantial segments each year, both online and in print. The new scope includes comprehensive coverage of Islam in the twentieth century and of Muslim minorities all over the world. This Part 2011-2 of the Third Edition of Brill s Encyclopaedia of Islam contains 59 new articles, reflecting the great diversity of current scholarship in the fields of Islamic Studies

In The Shi'is in Palestine Yaron Friedman offers a survey of the presence of Shi'ism in the region of Palestine (today: Israel) from early Islamic history until the contemporary period. It brings to light many pieces of information and interesting developments that are not widely known, in addition to the general point that, contrary to common belief, the Shi'i community has played a significant role in the history of Palestine. The volume includes a study of Shi'i shrines in Palestine, as well as showing the importance of these Muslim sites and holy towns in Palestine in the Shi'i religion.

This text revisits the main arguments and explanatory frameworks that have been used since the 1970s to understand Islamic activism, moderate as well as militant and violent, and proposes a rethinking of Islamist politics. Linking macro-level explanations to micro-level analysis, it analyzes Islamist activism and militancy in terms of the interplay of social formation and political structures on the one hand, and network processes within the other.

Articles collected in Historicizing Sunni Islam in the Ottoman Empire, c. 1450-c. 1750 engage with the idea that "Sunnism" itself has a history and trace how particular Islamic genres-ranging from prayer manuals, heresiographies, creeds, hadith and fatwa collections, legal and theological treatises, and historiography to mosques and Sufi convents-developed and were reinterpreted in the Ottoman Empire between c. 1450 and c. 1750. The volume epitomizes the growing scholarly interest in historicizing Islamic discourses and practices of the post-classical era, which has heretofore been styled as a period of decline, reflecting critically on the concepts of 'tradition', 'orthodoxy' and 'orthopraxy' as they were conceived and debated in the context of building and maintaining the longest-lasting Muslim-ruled empire. Contributors: Helen Pfeifer; Nabil al-Tikriti; Derin Terzioglu; Tijana Krstic; Nir Shafir; Guy Burak; Cigdem Kafescioglu; Grigor Boykov; H. Evren Sunnetcioglu; UEnver Rustem; Ayse Baltacioglu-Brammer; Vefa Erginbas; Selim Gu ngoeru rler.

In 'They Love Us Because We Give Them' Zakat, Dauda Abubakar describes the practice of Zakat in northern Nigeria. Those who practice this pillar of Islam annually deduct Zakat from their wealth and distribute it to the poor and needy people within their vicinity, mostly their friends, relatives and neighbours. The practice of giving and receiving Zakat in northern Nigeria often leads to the establishment of social relations between the rich and needy. Dauda Abubakar provides details of the social relationship in the people's interpersonal dealings with one another that often lead to power relations, high table relations etc. The needy reciprocate the Zakat they collect in many ways, respecting and given high positions to the rich in society.

Converso and Morisco are the terms applied to those Jews and Muslims who converted to Christianity in large numbers and usually under duress in late Medieval Spain. The Converso and Morisco Studies series examines the implications of these mass conversions for the converts themselves, for their heirs (also referred to as Conversos and Moriscos) and for Medieval and Modern Spanish culture. As the essays in this collection attest, the study of the Converso and Morisco phenomena is not only important for those scholars focusing on Spanish society and culture, but for all academics interested in questions of identity, Otherness, nationalism, religious intolerance and the challenges of modernity. Contributors: Luis F. Bernabe Pons, Michel Boeglin, Stephanie M. Cavanaugh, William P. Childers, Carlos Gilly, Kevin Ingram, Nicola Jennings, Patrick J. O'Banion, Francisco Javier Perea Siller, Mohamed Saadan, and Enrique Soria Mesa.