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.

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.

When Muslim women from diverse national and cultural contexts meet one another through transnational dialogue and networking, what happens to their sense of identity and social agency? Addressing this question, Meena Sharify-Funk encountered women activists and intellectuals in North America, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia - women whose lives and visions have become linked by 'the transnational' despite their differing circumstances and intellectual backgrounds. The resultant work provides a rich and cliche-bursting account of women's reflections on a wide range of topics including: the status of women in Islam, the role of women as interpreters of religious norms, the relationship between secular and religious forms of self-identification, perceptions of Islamic-Western relations, experiences of marginalization, and opportunities for empowerment. Giving careful attention both to common threads in Muslim women's experiences and to the unique voices of remarkable women, this is a compelling account of conversations that are bringing new energy and dynamism into women's activism in a world of collapsing distances.

When Muslim women from diverse national and cultural contexts meet one another through transnational dialogue and networking, what happens to their sense of identity and social agency? Addressing this question, Meena Sharify-Funk encountered women activists and intellectuals in North America, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia - women whose lives and visions have become linked by 'the transnational' despite their differing circumstances and intellectual backgrounds. The resultant work provides a rich and cliche-bursting account of women's reflections on a wide range of topics including: the status of women in Islam, the role of women as interpreters of religious norms, the relationship between secular and religious forms of self-identification, perceptions of Islamic-Western relations, experiences of marginalization, and opportunities for empowerment. Giving careful attention both to common threads in Muslim women's experiences and to the unique voices of remarkable women, this is a compelling account of conversations that are bringing new energy and dynamism into women's activism in a world of collapsing distances.

Contemporary Islam provides a counterweight to the prevailing opinions of Islamic thought as conservative and static with a preference for violence over dialogue. It gathers together a collection of eminent scholars from around the world who tackle issues such as intellectual pluralism, gender, the ethics of political participation, human rights, non-violence and religious harmony. This is a highly topical and important study which gives a progressive outlook for Islam's role in modern politics and society.

Contemporary Islam provides a counterweight to the prevailing opinions of Islamic thought as conservative and static with a preference for violence over dialogue. It gathers together a collection of eminent scholars from around the world who tackle issues such as intellectual pluralism, gender, the ethics of political participation, human rights, non-violence and religious harmony. This is a highly topical and important study which gives a progressive outlook for Islam's role in modern politics and society.

What is Sufism? Contemporary views vary tremendously, even among Sufis themselves. Contemporary Sufism: Piety, Politics, and Popular Culture brings to light the religious frameworks that shape the views of Sufism's friends, adversaries, admirers, and detractors and, in the process, helps readers better understand the diversity of contemporary Sufism, the pressures and cultural openings to which it responds, and the many divergent opinions about contemporary Sufism's relationship to Islam. The three main themes: piety, politics, and popular culture are explored in relation to the Islamic and Western contexts that shape them, as well as to the historical conditions that frame contemporary debates. This book is split into three parts: * Sufism and anti-Sufism in contemporary contexts; * Contemporary Sufism in the West: Poetic influences and popular manifestations; * Gendering Sufism: Tradition and transformation. This book will fascinate anyone interested in the challenges of contemporary Sufism as well as its relationship to Islam, gender, and the West. It offers an ideal starting point from which undergraduate and postgraduate students, teachers and lecturers can explore Sufism today.

What is Sufism? Contemporary views vary tremendously, even among Sufis themselves. Contemporary Sufism: Piety, Politics, and Popular Culture brings to light the religious frameworks that shape the views of Sufism's friends, adversaries, admirers, and detractors and, in the process, helps readers better understand the diversity of contemporary Sufism, the pressures and cultural openings to which it responds, and the many divergent opinions about contemporary Sufism's relationship to Islam. The three main themes: piety, politics, and popular culture are explored in relation to the Islamic and Western contexts that shape them, as well as to the historical conditions that frame contemporary debates. This book is split into three parts: * Sufism and anti-Sufism in contemporary contexts; * Contemporary Sufism in the West: Poetic influences and popular manifestations; * Gendering Sufism: Tradition and transformation. This book will fascinate anyone interested in the challenges of contemporary Sufism as well as its relationship to Islam, gender, and the West. It offers an ideal starting point from which undergraduate and postgraduate students, teachers and lecturers can explore Sufism today.

Known to many as American University's "peace legend," Abdul Aziz Said (1930-2021)led an academic career spanning nearly sixty years. Always a forward-looking thinker,Said consistently sought to be among the first to grapple with the leading-edge issues ofhis day, from decolonization and turbulent social change in developing countries to theinfluence of multinational corporations, the normative priority of human rights, culturalaspects of conflict resolution, and the promotion of Islamic-Western understanding.Taken together, his extensive writings, innovative pedagogy, and practical pursuits offera model for engaged scholarship, characterized by dynamic use of the platform providedby a university career to advance international peace, intercultural dialogue, and socialjustice as well as a spiritual ethic emphasizing unity and connectedness among peoplefrom diverse cultural, religious, and racial backgrounds. * Abdul Aziz Said has been an innovator in international relations and peacestudies;* Born in Syria, he completed his higher education in the United States and wenton to teach multiple generations of international affairs students;* He was a leading scholar focusing on global peace as well as Islam and peace;* His writings address salient global issues from the 1950s to the first decades ofthe twenty-first century.

In contrast to most introductory texts on Sufism, this work begins not with the historical past, but with the contemporary present. Beginning with Sufism as it is lived today, each chapter further unveils the complexities of Sufism, journeying through a variety of historical, political, and cultural contexts, moving deeper into the past, and closer to the origin and heart of Sufism. This geneological framework will enable the reader to understand the patterns of connection between contemporary manifestations of Sufism and past realities. To ensure that the full range of Sufism's varied expressions is taken into account, each chapter is divided into four sections: Politics and Power, Philosophy and Metaphysics, Arts and Culture, and Overview of Historical Developments. Dividing chapters into these four broad categories enables the book to highlight some of the ways in which Sufism has influenced Muslim politics, philosophy, art, and culture in each historical period. In each category the relevant issues are illustrated through detailed case studies, whether of a particular Sufi figure, place, artistic expression, or philosophical view. This allows the reader to develop a genuinely three-dimensional appreciation of Sufism, neither reducing it to a private mystical experience divorced from social expression, nor limiting the tradition to historical names and dates.

In contrast to most introductory texts on Sufism, this work begins not with the historical past, but with the contemporary present. Beginning with Sufism as it is lived today, each chapter further unveils the complexities of Sufism, journeying through a variety of historical, political, and cultural contexts, moving deeper into the past, and closer to the origin and heart of Sufism. This geneological framework will enable the reader to understand the patterns of connection between contemporary manifestations of Sufism and past realities. To ensure that the full range of Sufism's varied expressions is taken into account, each chapter is divided into four sections: Politics and Power, Philosophy and Metaphysics, Arts and Culture, and Overview of Historical Developments. Dividing chapters into these four broad categories enables the book to highlight some of the ways in which Sufism has influenced Muslim politics, philosophy, art, and culture in each historical period. In each category the relevant issues are illustrated through detailed case studies, whether of a particular Sufi figure, place, artistic expression, or philosophical view. This allows the reader to develop a genuinely three-dimensional appreciation of Sufism, neither reducing it to a private mystical experience divorced from social expression, nor limiting the tradition to historical names and dates.

This edited volume is a compilation of original scholarly papers on the theme of cultural diversity in Islamic thought and practice under conditions of early and late modernity, with a specific contemporary focus on the crisis of religious tolerance in the Muslim world. Particular emphasis is placed upon Islamic concepts of cultural diversity as they contrast to the traditional Western liberal approach that takes a neutral position on tolerance to cultural difference.