Central to the current debates on the nature and direction of Islam Highly topical and relevant to the 'Islam and Modernity issue Contributors include blue-chip academics In all the current alienating discourse on Islam, so often depicted as a source of extremism and fanatic violence, this book takes a timely and refreshing look at the traditions of Islamic mysticism, philosophy and intellectual debate in a series of diverse and stimulating approaches. It tackles the major figures of Islamic thought, such as Ibn Arabi, al-Farabi, Ibn Sina and al-Ghazali, as well as shedding light on hitherto unconsidered aspects of Islam and utilising new source material. The contributors are an impressive list of scholars and experts. They include amongst others: S. Alvi, M.A. Amir-Moezzi, L. Clarke, F. Daftary, D. DeWeese, B. Fragner, S. Kamada, W. Madelung, E. Ormsby, N. Pourjavady and J. Morris.

In Tafsir as Mystical Experience, Todd Lawson shows how the Quran may be engaged with for meaning and understanding, the usual goal of mystical exegesis, and also how it may be engaged with through tafsir in a quest for spiritual or mystical experience. In this earliest of the Bab's extended works, written before his public claim to be the return of the hidden Imam, the act of reading is shown to be something akin to holy communion in which the sacred text is both entrance upon and destination of the mystic quest. The Quran here is a door to an "abode of glory" and an abiding spiritual encounter with the divine through the prophet, his daughter Fatima and the twelve Imams of Ithna-'ashari Shi'ism who inhabit the letters, words, verses and suras of the Book. Cover calligraphy by Burhan Zahrai of Quran 53:11

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.

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.

Suppose our knowledge of the Quran began only recently with the discovery of mysterious scrolls in a desert cave. Suppose there was no Islamic history and no Muslim community to help us understand this book. Is it conceivable, then, that we might mistake it for the central text of a long-vanished apocalyptic community whose ideas about the next world, colourful and extraordinary as they appear, nonetheless make perfect sense in the context of the most pervasive literary genre of late antiquity, the epic? How do people understand the Quran to be divine revelation? What is it about this book that inspires such devotion in the reader/believer? Grounding his approach in the universal power of story and myth, Todd Lawson provides a unique appreciation of the unparalleled status and unique charisma of the Quran as a religious text and monument of world literature.

The first book to examine the controversial Qur'anic phrase which divides Christianity and Islam. According to the majority of modern Muslims and Christians, the Qur'an denies the crucifixion of Jesus, and with it, one of the most sacred beliefs of Christianity. However, it is only mentioned in one verse - "They did not kill him and they did not crucify him, rather, it only appeared so to them" - and contrary to popular belief, its translation has been the subject of fierce debate among muslims for centuries. This the first book devoted to the issue, delving deeply into largely ignored Arabic sources, which suggest the the origins of the conventional translation may lie within the Christian Church. Arranged along historical lines, and covering various Muslim schools of thought, from Sunni to Sufi, The Crucifixion and the Qur'an unravels the crucial dispute that separates the World's two principal faiths.