Since Europeans first colonized Arab lands in the 19th century, they have been pressing to have the area's indigenous laws and legal systems accord with Western models. Although most Arab states now have national codes of law that reflect Western influence, fierce internal struggles continue over how to interpret Islamic law, particularly in the areas of gender and family. From different geographical and ideological points across the contemporary Arab world, Haddad and Stowasser demonstrate the range of views on just what Islam's legal heritage in the region should be. For either law or religion classes, Islamic Law and the Challenges of Modernity provides the broad historical overview and particular cases needed to understand this contentious issue.

The treatment and role of women is one of the most discussed and controversial aspects of Islam. In this volume, three respected scholars of Islam survey the situation of women in Islam, focusing on how Muslim views about and experiences of gender are changing in the Western diaspora. It offers an overview of the teachings of the Qur'an and the Prophet Muhammad on gender, analyzes the ways in which the West has historically viewed Muslim women, and examines how the Muslim world has changed in response to Western critiques. The volume then centers on the Muslim experience in America, examining Muslim American analyses of gender, Muslim attempts to form a new "American" Islam, and the legal issues surrounding equal rights for Muslim females. Such specific issues as dress, marriage, child custody, and asylum are addressed. It also looks at the ways in which American Muslim women have tried to create new paradigms of Islamic womanhood and are reinterpreting the traditions apart from the males who control the mosque institutions.

Today, Muslims are the second largest religious group in much of Europe and Northern America. The essays in this collection look both at the impact of the growing Muslim Population on Western Societies, and how Muslims are adapting to life in the west. Part I looks at the Muslim diaspora in Europe, comprising essays on Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands. Part II turns to the Western hemisphere and muslims in the US, Canada and Mexico. Throughout, the authors contend with such questions as: Can Muslims retain their faith and identity and at the same time accept and function within the secular and pluralistic traditions of Europe and America? What are the limits of Western pluralism? Will Muslims come to be fully accepted as fellow citizens with equal rights? An excellent guide to the changing landscape of Islam, this volume is an indespensible introduction to the experiences of Muslim in the West, and the diverse responses to their adopted countries.

Today, Muslims are the second largest religious group in much of Europe and Northern America. The essays in this collection look both at the impact of the growing Muslim population on Western societies, and how Muslims are adapting to life in the west. Part 1 looks at the Muslim diaspora in Europe, comprising essays on Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands. Part 2 turns to the Western Hemisphere and Muslims in the U.S. Canada and Mexico. Throughout, the authors contend with such questions as: Can Muslims retain their faith and identity and at the same time accept and function within the secular and pluralistic traditions of Europe and America? What are the limits of Western pluralism? Will Muslims come to be fully accepted as fellow citizens with equal rights? An excellent guide to the changing landscape of Islam, this volume is an indespensable introduction to the experiences of Muslims in the west, and the diverse responses of their adopted countries. Includes a foreword by John L. Esposito.

Countless generations of Arabs and Muslims have called the United States "home." Yet while diversity and pluralism continue to define contemporary America, many Muslims are viewed by their neighbors as painful reminders of conflict and violence. In this concise volume, renowned historian Yvonne Haddad argues that American Muslim identity is as uniquely American it is for as any other race, nationality, or religion. Becoming American? first traces the history of Arab and Muslim immigration into Western society during the 19th and 20th centuries, revealing a two-fold disconnect between the cultures-America's unwillingness to accept these new communities at home and the activities of radical Islam abroad. Urging America to reconsider its tenets of religious pluralism, Haddad reveals that the public square has more than enough room to accommodate those values and ideals inherent in the moderate Islam flourishing throughout the country. In all, in remarkable, succinct fashion, Haddad prods readers to ask what it means to be truly American and paves the way forward for not only increased understanding but for forming a Muslim message that is capable of uplifting American society.

The treatment and role of women are among the most discussed and controversial aspects of Islam. The rights of Muslim women have become part of the Western political agenda, often perpetuating a stereotype of universal oppression. Muslim women living in America continue to be marginalized and misunderstood since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Yet their contributions are changing the face of Islam as it is seen both within Muslim communities in the West and by non-Muslims. In their public and private lives, Muslim women are actively negotiating what it means to be a woman and a Muslim in an American context.
Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Jane I. Smith, and Kathleen M. Moore offer a much-needed survey of the situation of Muslim American women, focusing on how Muslim views about and experiences of gender are changing in the Western diaspora. Centering on Muslims in America, the book investigates Muslim attempts to form a new "American" Islam. Such specific issues as dress, marriage, childrearing, conversion, and workplace discrimination are addressed. The authors also look at the ways in which American Muslim women have tried to create new paradigms of Islamic womanhood and are reinterpreting the traditions apart from the males who control the mosque institutions. A final chapter asks whether 9/11 will prove to have been a watershed moment for Muslim women in America.
This groundbreaking work presents the diversity of Muslim American women and demonstrates the complexity of the issues. Impeccably researched and accessible, it broadens our understanding of Islam in the West and encourages further exploration into how Muslim women are shaping the future of American Islam.

Although they are typically portrayed by the media as dangerous extremists in distant lands, Muslims in fact form a permanent, peaceful and growing population in nearly every Western country. While Westerners are now more commonly seeing mosques in their neighborhoods or scarved Muslim women in their streets, misperceptions and stereotypes remain. With expanding numbers and desires to protect their rights and identities, Muslims are coming into more and more into the public view. In Muslim Minorites in the West noted scholars Haddad and Smith bring together outstanding essays on the distinct experiences of minority Muslim communities from Detroit, Michigan to Perth, Australia and the wide range of issues facing them. Haddad and Smith in their introduction trace the broad contours of the Muslim experience in Europe, America and other areas of European settlement and shed light on the common questions minority Muslims face of assimilation, discrimination, evangelism, and politics. Muslim Minorities in the West provides a welcome introduction to these increasingly visible citizens of Western nations.

There are now more Muslims in America than in Kuwait, Qatar, and Libya combined. Like all religious and ethnic minorities in America, Muslims are faced with a quandary of integration vs. assimilation. In this volume, distinguished scholars consider the issues that surround this dilemma and the responses of the Muslim community to them.

One of the most controversial and emotionally charged aspects of the Muslim religious resurgence has been its effect on women in Muslim societies. The essays collected in this book place the issue in its historical context and offer case studies of Muslim societies from North Africa to Southeast Asia. The volume as a whole militates against the stereotype of Muslim women as repressed, passive, and without initiative, while acknowledging the very real obstacles to women's initiatives in most of these societies.

This is a collection of sixteen essays about the Muslim community in North America, by some of the leading American scholars of Islam. They focus on the ways in which American Muslims adapt their institutions as they become an indigenous part of America.

Since Europeans first colonized Arab lands in the 19th century, they have been pressing to have the area's indigenous laws and legal systems accord with Western models. Although most Arab states now have national codes of law that reflect Western influence, fierce internal struggles continue over how to interpret Islamic law, particularly in the areas of gender and family. From different geographical and ideological points across the contemporary Arab world, Haddad and Stowasser demonstrate the range of views on just what Islam's legal heritage in the region should be. For either law or religion classes, Islamic Law and the Challenges of Modernity provides the broad historical overview and particular cases needed to understand this contentious issue.

Important for a general audience interested in women and religion, this book will be especially valuable to scholars in the fields of feminist theology, comparative religion, and interfaith studies.

Based on the premise that women's struggles to have their voices heard are shared throughout the monotheisms, these essays offer new insights into the traditions of three religions during the past century. Six scholars engage in dialogue with their own faith communities, reflecting on their scripture and theology in order to understand the process by which women have been constrained within the patriarchal teachings of the religion. Looking at texts and narratives long utilized to keep women within boundaries, they open up the scriptures and traditions to a feminist interpretation of the historical teachings of their faiths.

"The reader is led through the centuries, and through the varieties of regional diversity, to a serious appreciation of the richness and importance of the subject."--Sheila McDonough, Concordia University, Montreal "This volume far surpasses others of its kind in quality and breadth. It examines the critical issues surrounding the legitimacy, efficacy and, in some scholars' views, the very possibility of dialogue."--Tamara Sonn, University of South Florida The authors of these essays examine the ways in which Muslims and Christians worldwide have encountered one another over 1,400 years and the ways in which they are engaged today, enlightening current interpolitical, intersocial, and intereconomic relationships. Covering geographical, historical, and methodological topics that range from medieval scripture to contemporary theological reflections and including contributions from both Muslims and Christians, the essays will interest scholars of Islamic history and political science, religious leaders, and the general public. Contributors: Mamud Ayoub, Willem A. Bijlefeld, Issa J. Boullata, John B. Carman, Kenneth Cragg, Hadia Dajani-Shakeel, Frederick Mathewson Denny, Johann Haafkens, Wadi Z. Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, David A. Kerr, Donald P. Little, Roland E. Miller, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Jorgen S. Nielsen, Sulayman S. Nyang, James E. Royster, Daniel J. Sahas, Annemarie Schimmel, Olaf Schumann, Jan Slomp, Jane I. Smith, R. Marston Speight, Mark N. Swanson, Christian W. Troll, Harold S. Vogelaar, Jacques Waardenburg, and Antonie Wessels Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad is professor of Islamic history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Wadi Z. Haddad is professor of Islamic studies at the Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut.