Exploring the mainstream American Muslim community up close, this guide briefly traces the history of Islam in the US and Canada, while it offers a fascinating and informative introduction to Islamic values and institutions. It assesses such issues as American Muslims' perception of themselves, their differences from and similarities to Muslims in Islamic countries, and how they have adapted to life and work in the secular societies of the US and Canada. This book also depicts the responses of Muslim media organizations, charities and community support structures in the wake of 9/11.
Packed with data designed to serve researchers and Muslims alike, this unique resource includes useful tables and analyses of population statistics, immigration, and participation in the political process as well as an extensive directory of more than 130 pages that lists both websites and local contact details for the organizations that support today's mainstream US and Canadian Muslim community.

Americans' awareness of Islam and Muslims rose to seemingly unprecedented heights in the immediate aftermath of September 11, 2001, but this is not the first time they have dominated American public life. Once before, during the period of the Iranian revolution and hostage crisis of 1979 to 1981, Americans found themselves targeted as a consequence of a militant interpretation of Islam. Daniel Pipes wrote In the Path of God in response to those events, and the heightened interest in Islam they generated. His objective was to present an overview of the connection between in Islam and political power through history in a way that would explain the origins of hostility to Americans and the West. Its relevance to our understanding of contemporary events is self evident.

Muslim antagonism toward the West is deeply rooted in historical experience. In premodern times, the Islamic world enjoyed great success, being on the whole more powerful and wealthier than their neighbors. About two hundred years ago, a crisis developed, as Muslims became aware of the West's overwhelming force and economic might. While they might have found these elements attractive, Muslims found European culture largely alien and distasteful. The resulting resistance to Westernization by Muslims has deep roots, has been more persistent than that of other peoples, and goes far to explain the deep Muslim reluctance to accept modern ways. In short, Muslims saw what the West had and wanted it too, but they rejected the methods necessary to achieve this. This, the Muslim trauma, has only worsened over the Years.

This book brings together research into key aspects of the interconnections between Islam, crime and the criminal justice system in Britain, a particularly timely collection in the light of both the recent disturbances in several northern English cities as well as the impact of the events of 11 September 2001 and their aftermath.

Chapters in the book focus on young Muslim men and criminal activity, Muslim women and their experiences of victimisation, the experiences of Muslim police officers, of Muslims in prison, issues of human rights in relation to Muslims in Britain, and the criminal justice policy implications of religious diversity. Main aims pursued through the book include issues of victimisation as perceived by Muslim communities, Muslim perspectives on crime and criminal justice, and ways of addressing issues of marginalisation and exclusion within Muslim communities.

Overall the book provides an important contribution to debates over the role of Muslims in British society generally, as well as their experiences of and involvement in the criminal justice system and the policy implications that arise from this.

Ibn al-Athir, who died in the 13th century, is one of the most important historians of Islam. His major chronicle, the Kamil fi'l-Ta'rikh, is one of the greatest achievements of Muslim historiography for the range and comprehensiveness of the sources it assembled and for its narrative, covering the whole sweep of Islamic history up to his own lifetime. This volume of D.S. Richards' translation covers the early years of conquest and the period of the 'great sultanate'. With its copious annotations, the translation will open a direct window into this period of history for non-Arabic readers and will be an invaluable aid and resource for students and scholars.

Relating the Muslim understanding of Moses in the Qur'an to the Epic of Gilgamesh, Alexander Romances, Aramaic Targums, Rabbinic Bible exegesis, and folklore from the ancient and medieval Mediterranean, this book shows how Muslim scholars authorize and identify themselves through allusions to the Bible and Jewish tradition. Exegesis of Qur'an 18:60-82 shows how Muslim exegetes engage Biblical theology through interpretation of the ancient Israelites, their prophets, and their Torah. This Muslim use of a scripture shared with Jews and Christians suggests fresh perspectives for the history of religions, Biblical studies, cultural studies, and Jewish-Arabic studies.

One of the greatest dilemmas facing Muslims today is the fact that Muslim culture, which originated many centuries ago, is often seemingly incompatible with the culture of the modern Western world, and the features associated with it - technological progress, consumerism, and new electronic communication, all of which have the potential for a homogenizing effect on any culture. This book explores many key aspects of the globalisation process, discussing how Muslim countries are coping with the encounter with globalisation, as well as considering how the West is responding to Islam.

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Culture and Civilization in the Middle East

This study of women and gender in a Muslim society draws on archival and literary sources as well as the life stories of women of different generations to offer a unique ethnographic and historical account of the lives of urban women in contemporary Azerbaijan. Focussing on a group of professional women in Baku, it provides insight into the impact of the Soviet system on the position of Azeri women, their conceptions of femininity and the significant changes brought about by the post-Soviet transition to a market economy and growing western influence. Also explored are the ways in which local cultural expectations and Islamic beliefs were accommodated to different modernisation projects.

One of the greatest dilemmas facing Muslims today is the fact that Muslim culture, which originated many centuries ago, is often seemingly incompatible with the culture of the modern Western world, and the features associated with it - technological progress, consumerism, and new electronic communication, all of which have the potential for a homogenizing effect on any culture. This book explores many key aspects of the globalisation process, discussing how Muslim countries are coping with the encounter with globalisation, as well as considering how the West is responding to Islam.

This book is a comparative study of the sociological field in two different Muslim societies: Malaysia and Egypt. It analyses the process of the production of 'knowledge' through the example of the modern 'Islamization of knowledge debate' and local empirical variations.

The dead are potent and omnipresent in modern Indonesia. Presidents and peasants alike meditate before sacred graves to exploit the power they confer, and mediums do good business curing the sick by interpreting the wishes of deceased forebears. Among non-Muslims there are ritual burials of the bones of the dead in monuments both magnificent and modest. By promoting dead heroes to a nationalist pantheon, regions and ethnic groups establish their place within the national story.Although much has been written about the local forms of the scriptural religions to which modern Indonesians are required by law to adhere - Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism - this is the first book to assess the indigenous systems of belief in the spirits of ancestors. Sometimes these systems are condemned in the name of the formal religions, but more often the potent dead coexist as a private dimension of everyday religious practice.A unique team of anthropologists, historians and literary scholars from Europe, Australia and North America demonstrate the continuing importance of the potent dead for understanding contemporary Indonesia. At the same time, they help us understand historic processes of conversion to Islam and Christianity by examining the continuing interactions of the spirit world with formal religion.

The fields of morality and ethics have been left out significantly from socio-scientific study in general and in economics and finance in particular. Yet this book argues that in this age of post-modernist analytical inquiry, the study of morality and ethics is an epistemological requirement. This book illustrates the delimiting nature of mainstream economic reasoning in treating morality and ethics and highlights the potential contribution of analytical monotheism, as typified by the Islamic concept of Tahwid. The principal purpose of this book is to undertake an introductory exploration of the critical area of comparative economic thought in order to place the nature and emergence of ethico-economic theory in its proper context. It is ultimately argued that such a post-orthodoxy revolutionary methodological worldview can be presented by Islamic political economy, Islamic economics and finance.

Instructive, entertaining and even stimulating. - Middle East International

Through an exploration of his experiences as a Muslim and his personal search for understanding, (Akbar Ahmed) sets before us the kindlier face of Islam and the dynamics of its history. - History Today

This is a most readable book which will set Muslims and non-Muslims thinking. - Islam, Christian and Muslim Relations

An in-depth analysis of Islamic history and society... required reading for students and researchers. - Colonel Ghulam Sarwar, The Voice of Islam

Islamic law has traditionally prohibited women from being prayer leaders and heads of state. A small number of Muslims today are beginning to challenge this stance, but they face considerable opposition from the broader Muslim community. 'Women and Leadership in Islamic Law' examines the assumption within much existing feminist scholarship that the patriarchal nature of pre-Islamic and early Muslim Near Eastern Society is the primary reason for the development of Islamic legal rulings prohibiting women from leadership positions. It claims that the evolution of Islamic law was a complex process, shaped by numerous cultural, historical, political and social factors, as well as scriptural sources whose importance cannot be dismissed. Therefore, the book critically examines a broad survey of legal works from the four canonical Sunni schools of law to determine the factors that influenced the development of the legal rulings prohibiting women from assuming various leadership roles. The passages that elaborate rulings about women's leadership are presented in translation as an appendix to the research, and are then subjected to a variety of critical analyses to identify the reasons, influences, and assumptions underlying those rulings. This is the first time works of all four schools of law have been subjected to this kind of analysis for the express purpose of determining the extent to which gender attitudes have influenced and determined the rulings. This book will therefore be a vital resource for students and scholars of Islamic Studies, Religious Studies and Gender Studies.

This unique and comprehensive book is an authoritative guide to dermatological conditions for black populations in Africa. As well as being an essential reference for all doctors, healthcare and voluntary workers in Africa, it is of interest throughout the world, given the increase in presentation of such conditions everywhere as a result of intercontinental travel. Conditions are described in a consistent format for ease of use. The book contains over six hundred clear colour pictures of dermatological cases to greatly assist the recognition, diagnosis and treatment of both common and rare skin conditions.

This volume brings together scholarship from two different, and until now, largely separate literatures-the study of the children of immigrants and the study of Muslim minority communities-in order to explore the changing nature of ethnic identity, religious practice, and citizenship in the contemporary western world. With attention to the similarities and differences between the European and American experiences of growing up Muslim, the contributing authors ask what it means for young people to be both Muslim and American or European, how they reconcile these, at times, conflicting identities, how they reconcile the religious and gendered cultural norms of their immigrant families with the more liberal ideals of the western societies that they live in, and how they deal with these issues through mobilization and political incorporation. A transatlantic research effort that brings together work from the tradition in diaspora studies with research on the second generation, to examine social, cultural, and political dimensions of the second-generation Muslim experience in Europe and the United States, this book will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in migration, diaspora, race and ethnicity, religion and integration.

The most comprehensive glossary to date of Hui Muslim terms and the first to fully match the Chinese term (stated in Chinese script and pinyin) to its Arabic or Persian counterpart (stated in Arabic script with Latin transcription).

This book analyses Islam as a form of 'travelling theory' in the context of contemporary global transformations such as diasporic communities, transnational social movements, global cities and information technologies. Peter Mandaville examines how 'globalization' is manifested as lived experience through a discussion of debates over the meaning of Muslim identity, political community and the emergence of a 'critical Islam'.
This radical book argues that translocal forces are leading the emergence of a wider Muslim public sphere. Now available in paperback, it contains a new preface setting the debates in the context of September 11th.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203453158

This ethnography of Muslim life among the Kazaks of Central Asia describes the sacralisation of land and ethnic identity, local understanding of Islamic purity, the Kazak ancestor cult and domestic spirituality, and pilgrimage to the tombs of Sufi saints.

While the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc has contributed to the decline of communism as a revolutionary political force, religious and ethnic issues have now assumed renewed and increased significance in South East Asia. Since the Islamic resurgence of the early 1980s and 1990s, elements of a more radical political Islam have migrated from the Middle East to Asia. If left unchecked these radical elements could aggravate a number of security and political crises in countries weakened by the consequences of the devastating Asian financial crisis. In an increasingly globalized world, it is not only the exchange of tangible goods across borders that is transmitted with multiplying efficiency and speed, but the exchange of ideas across seamless borders, assisted by the ever-improving communications technology of the Internet and electronic mail. Paradoxically, globalization both creates social change that can spark a backlash in the form of Islamic radicalism, and provides improved means for the spread of Islamic ideals.

This critical volume examines the advance and contours of Islamicism and analyzes the potential consequences that such activity poses in South East Asian region. The study tracks the activities of external countries such as Iran, Libya, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia and highlights the key roles these countries play in East Asian economies, politics, religion, and weapons procurement. It focuses on four locations in South East Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia, the southern Philippines, and southern Thailand. The introduction treats the Islamic resurgence in Asia, its links to Middle Eastern Islam, and its external influences. Chapters 1 and 2 examine "Islam and Politics in the New Indonesia" and "Islam, Society, Politics, and Change in Malaysia"; chapters 3 and 4 discuss in detail "Militant Islamic Extremism in the Southern Philippines" and "Militant Islamic Separatism in Southern Thailand." A conclusion follows with an assessment of religious extremism with its concomitant volatility and unpredictability in the regions discussed and an overview of the extra-regional sources of radicalization and the forums convened to combat such.

Islam in Asia highlights the range of variables-social, religious, economic, and cultural-that stimulate or impede the development of militant Islam in Southeast Asia. It offers through four central case studies an insight into the workings of these factors in producing particular developments with regard to Islam and suggests likely short- and medium-term prognoses for the future.

While the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc has contributed to the decline of communism as a revolutionary political force, religious and ethnic issues have now assumed renewed and increased significance in South East Asia. Since the Islamic resurgence of the early 1980s and 1990s, elements of a more radical political Islam have migrated from the Middle East to Asia. If left unchecked these radical elements could aggravate a number of security and political crises in countries weakened by the consequences of the devastating Asian financial crisis. In an increasingly globalized world, it is not only the exchange of tangible goods across borders that is transmitted with multiplying efficiency and speed, but the exchange of ideas across seamless borders, assisted by the ever-improving communications technology of the Internet and electronic mail. Paradoxically, globalization both creates social change that can spark a backlash in the form of Islamic radicalism, and provides improved means for the spread of Islamic ideals.

This critical volume examines the advance and contours of Islamicism and analyzes the potential consequences that such activity poses in South East Asian region. The study tracks the activities of external countries such as Iran, Libya, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia and highlights the key roles these countries play in East Asian economies, politics, religion, and weapons procurement. It focuses on four locations in South East Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia, the southern Philippines, and southern Thailand. The introduction treats the Islamic resurgence in Asia, its links to Middle Eastern Islam, and its external influences. Chapters 1 and 2 examine "Islam and Politics in the New Indonesia" and "Islam, Society, Politics, and Change in Malaysia"; chapters 3 and 4 discuss in detail "Militant Islamic Extremism in the Southern Philippines" and "Militant Islamic Separatism in Southern Thailand." A conclusion follows with an assessment of religious extremism with its concomitant volatility and unpredictability in the regions discussed and an overview of the extra-regional sources of radicalization and the forums convened to combat such.

Islam in Asia highlights the range of variables-social, religious, economic, and cultural-that stimulate or impede the development of militant Islam in Southeast Asia. It offers through four central case studies an insight into the workings of these factors in producing particular developments with regard to Islam and suggests likely short- and medium-term prognoses for the future.

A clear, intelligently-written guide to a crucial period of Spanish history Written in the same tradition as John Julius Norwich's engrossing accounts of Venice and Byzantium, Richard Fletcher's Moorish Spain entertains even as it enlightens. He tells the story of a vital period in Spanish history which transformed the culture and society, not only of Spain, but of the rest of Europe as well. Moorish influence transformed the architecture, art, literature and learning and Fletcher combines this analysis with a crisp account of the wars, politics and sociological changes of the time.

For fifty years Bärbel Inhelder (1913-1997) was the research companion of Jean Piaget. In this unique volume, published in her honour, leading international researchers examine the various aspects of her work and ideas and her contribution to developmental psychology.
Following an initial chapter establishing Inhelder's stature as an independent researcher in her own right, the various research topics that she explored are reviewed and discussed with specific reference to her own perspective and in the chronological order in which she approached them. While the book explores Inhelder's work with her more famous colleague, it also highlights areas of research in which her ideas were at variance with those of Piaget, such as mental imagery, and areas in which her innovations have not been fully recognised, such as her discovery of the formal operations stage - an event usually attributed to Piaget - and her introduction of longitudinal studies in the field of cognitive development. Her research, viewpoint and contribution in other fields such as mental retardation, learning, and cross-cultural issues in development are also discussed. The final chapter, written by Inhelder herself, deals with experimental reasoning in children and adolescents and provides a glimpse of her creativity.

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Self and Sovereignty surveys the role of individual Muslim men and women within India and Pakistan from 1850 through to decolonisation and the partition period.
Commencing in colonial times, this book explores and interprets the historical processes through which the perception of the Muslim individual and the community of Islam has been reconfigured over time. Self and Sovereignty examines the relationship between Islam and nationalism and the individual, regional, class and cultural differences that have shaped the discourse and politics of Muslim identity. As well as fascinating discussion of political and religious movements, culture and art, this book includes analysis of:
* press, poetry and politics in late nineteenth century India
* the politics of language and identity - Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi
* Muslim identity, cultural differnce and nationalism
* the Punjab and the politics of Union and Disunion
* the creation of Pakistan
Covering a period of immense upheaval and sometimes devastating violence, this work is an important and enlightening insight into the history of Muslims in South Asia.

Answers the questions: what is the background to issues in external and internal politics? What is the Turks' opinion on European and Turkish identity? On Cyprus? On the role of the generals? Why do human rights problems linger on? What is behind the Kurdish question? Is Turkey religiously split? What are the pros and cons of Turkish association with the EU?