Religious Studies: Islam

F.E. Peters, a scholar in the comparative study of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, revisits his pioneering work after twenty-five years. Peters has rethought and thoroughly rewritten his classic The Children of Abraham for a new generation of readers - at a time when the understanding of these three religious traditions has taken on a new and critical urgency. Peters traces the three faiths from the sixth century B.C. when the Jews returned to Palestine from exile in Babylonia, to the time in the Middle Ages when they approached their present form. He points out that all three faith groups, whom the Muslims themselves refer to as "People of the Book," share much common ground. Most notably, each embraces the practice of worshipping a God who intervenes in history on behalf of His people.

In the late twentieth century, fundamentalism has emerged as one of the most powerful forces at work in the world, contesting the dominance of modern secualr values and threatening peace and harmony around the globe. Yet it remains incomprehensible to a large number of people. In The Battle for God, Karen Armstrong brilliantly and sympathetically shows us how tnad why fundamentalist groups came into existence and what they yearn to accomplish. We see the West in the sixteenth century beginning to create an extremely new kind of civilization, which brought in its wake change in every aspect of life- often painful and violent, even if liberating. Armstrong argues that one of the things that changed most was religion. People could no longer think about or experience the divine in the same way; they had to develop new forms of faith to fit their new circumstances. Armstrong characterizes fundamentalism as one of these new ways of being religious that have emerged in every major faith tradition. Focusing on Protestant fundamentalism in the United States, Jewish fundamentalism in Israel, and Muslim fundamentalism in Egypt and Iran, she examines the ways in which these movements, while not monolithic, have each sprung from a dread of modernity- often in response to assault (sometimes unwitting, sometimes intentional) by the mainstream society. Armstrong sees fundamentalist groups as complex, innovative, and modern- rather than as throwbacks to the past- but contends that they have failed in religious terms. Maintaining that fundamentalism often exists in symbiotic relationship with an aggressive modernity, each impelling the other on to greater excess, she suggests compassion as a way to defuse what is now an intensifying conflict.

Are they really Muslims? ' Islam in China reveals the struggle for identity of the small yet vital Muslim community of China, a little studied minority on the fringes of the Islamic world now thrust into the spotlight by the opening of China to the world and the rise of independent Muslim republics on China's western borders. Both timely and important, the multifaceted essays-_ collection of over twenty years of Raphael Israeli's scholarship on Chinese Muslims_offer detailed insight into the relationship between China's non-Muslim majority and an increasingly self-confident guest culture. The work uncovers a history of uneasy ethnic, philosophical, and ideological coexistence, the gradual sinification of the Chinese Muslim creed, and the increasing accommodation of Islam by a modern, westernizing China. In addition, it highlights a religious group riddled with sectarianism; factional rifts that reveal the doctrinal, social, and political diversity at the core of Chinese Islam.

Scholars from North America, Europe, Australia, and the Middle East present essays on Muslim scripture for various groups of readers. They begin by placing the Qur'an in historical context and considering how it can be integrated into a curriculum of religious studies. Then they address the text on both structural and historical levels, which have always intertwined in the study of the Qur'an; some of the major topics that characterize its message; various interpretations within Islam; and its application to such fields as exegetical sciences, contemporary ethical issues, and recitation.

Traditional distinctions between matters of the mind and matters of the spirit are increasingly being questioned, and people are searching for alternate perspectives on these issues. Thoughts Without a Thinker is a major contribution to today's exploding discussion of how Eastern spirituality can enhance Western psychology. In it, Mark Epstein argues that the contemplative traditions of the East can be extremely beneficial to patients, not just in helping them recognize their problems, but by giving them the strength to heal. Clearly written and very accessible, this enlightening guide explains the unique psychological contributions of the teachings of Buddhism, describes the path of meditation in contemporary psychological language, and lays out the possibility of a meditation-inspired psychotherapy.

This book 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 book provides a progressive outlook for Islam's role in contemporary politics and society.

As Muslims grow in numbers, and as Islam's role in world affairs becomes larger, we've begun to see the breakdown in a united fellowship among believers. Certainly the misunderstandings and friction between Islamic civilization and the modern West continue. But even within Islam, Iran's clerics are split, militant fundamentalists clash with students from Islamic universities, moderate Muslim-Americans look nothing like wahhabis from Saudi Arabia. Islam seems to be at war with itself. Extremist factions whose self-righteous rhetoric currently shapes our fears and prejudices have attempted to co-opt the Islamic faith. In Islam in the Modern World, one of the foremost Islamic scholars in the United States takes that faith back, describing and defending traditional Islam against all critics--without and within the faith. Increasingly relevant in today's world, this book hits all the hot button issues of current political concern to the West: holy wars, women's roles in Islam, the rise of fundamentalism, and the future of Shi'ism in Iran. In addition, the author explores lesser-known controversies within Islam, such as the challenge of modern science to religious belief, controversial art and architecture in Islamic cities, the role of the madrassas in education, and urban conditions and challenges in the Islamic world. Islam in the Modern World offers a steady guide through an increasingly factious religion with increasing global relevance.

In this open letter, Irshad Manji unearths the troubling cornerstones of mainstream Islam today: tribal insularity, deep-seated anti-Semitism, and an uncritical acceptance of the Koran as the final, and therefore superior, manifesto of God's will. But her message is ultimately positive. She offers a practical vision of how Islam can undergo a reformation that empowers women, promotes respect for religious minorities, and fosters a competition of ideas. Her vision revives "ijtihad," Islam's lost tradition of independent thinking. In that spirit, Irshad has a refreshing challenge for both Muslims and non-Muslims: Don't silence yourselves. Ask questions---out loud.

September 11 vitriolic rhetoric against the United States by prominent Muslims the war against terrorism shifts from Afghanistan to the Philippines and Indonesia. It is easy to believe Islam and Muslims are enemies of the West it is also wrong. This sweeping survey of trends in the Muslim world contends that the issue is not whether Islam plays a central role in politics, but what Muslims want. To focus on radicalism and extremism blinds us from another trend: liberal political Islam.

Lara Deeb and Mona Harb highlight tensions and complexities exacerbated by the presence of multiple religious authorities, a fraught sectarian political context, class mobility, and a generation that takes religion for granted but wants to have fun. The authors elucidate the political, economic, religious, and social changes that have taken place since 2000, and examine leisure's influence on Lebanese sociopolitical and urban situations. Asserting that morality and geography cannot be fully understood in isolation from one another, Leisurely Islam offers a colorful new understanding of the most powerful community in Lebanon today.

It is a widely held view that since the end of the Cold War attention has focused on Islam as a central force of disruption within a New World Order. No event has heightened this more than the assault on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and the reporting of these terrorist attacks. Reporting Islam is a timely contribution to this debate which looks at the ways in which Muslims are represented in the British news media. Elizabeth Poole examines the claim that Muslims are universally demonized in the British press and comes to some illuminating conclusions. Reporting Islam is of great value to students of media, cultural studies, Islamic studies and politics.

Muslim Zion argues that Pakistan has never been a nation-state, grounded in the historic connections of lands and peoples. Just as Israel is the only Jewish state, Pakistan is the only Muslim state to make religion the sole basis of its nationality. Faisal Devji offers a penetrating critique of founding a state on nothing but the idea of belonging.

Do Muslim Women Need Saving? is an indictment of a mindset that has justified all manner of foreign interference, including military invasion, in the name of rescuing women from Islam. It offers a detailed, moving portrait of the actual experiences of ordinary Muslim women, and of the contingencies with which they live.

Rigorous debates and profound disagreements among Muslim theologians, philosophers, and literati have taken place over such questions as: What is an Islamic state? Was the state ever viewed as an independent political institution in the Islamic tradition of political thought? Is it possible that a religion that places an inordinate emphasis upon the importance of good deeds does not indeed have a vigorous notion of "public interest" or a systematic theory of government? Does Islam provide an edifice, a common idiom, and an ideological mooring for premodern and modern Muslim rulers alike? The nuanced reading of the Islamic traditions provided in this book will help future generations of Muslims contemplate a more humane style of statecraft.

Drawing on fieldwork in Iraq, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines, Nationalism, Language, and Muslim Exceptionalism examines and compares the ethnopolitical identity of six Muslim separatist movements. There are variations in secularism and ethnonationalism among the cases, but the key factor is the presence or absence of a vernacular print culture—a social cement that binds a literate population together as a national group. Mabry shows that a strong print culture correlates with a strong ethnonational identity, and a strong ethnonational identity correlates with a conspicuous absence of Islamism. Thus, Islamism functions less as an incitement, more as an opportunistic pull with greater influence when citizens do not have a strong ethnonational bond. An innovative perspective firmly grounded in empirical research, Nationalism, Language, and Muslim Exceptionalism has important implications for scholars and policymakers alike.