Exploring Islam

Download or read book Exploring Islam written by Salih Sayilgan and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring Islam is a comprehensive yet accessible introduction to the foundations of the Islamic faith, including its history, theology, and spiritual practice. The book also deals with issues such as jihad, the status of women, and the various sectarian divisions in Islam. Most distinctive about this work is its analysis of the lived experience of Muslims in modern American life. The book explores questions such as: - What are the foundations of Islam? - How do Muslims relate to and interpret the Qur'an? - Who is the Prophet Muhammad? - What does Shari'a law really mean? - What are the major themes of Islamic theology? - What are the theological and political issues that led to divisions among Muslims? - Do Muslims and Christians believe in the same God? - How do Muslims practice Islam in America? - What are the challenges and opportunities for American Muslims? In addressing these questions, Sayilgan offers readers a perspective that is scholarly, judicious, and engaging.

Download or read book Discovering Islam written by Akbar S. Ahmed and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-11 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This accessible work balances the image of Islam as aggressive and fanatical with an objective picture of the main features of Muslim history and the compulsions of Muslim society.

Download or read book Why the West Fears Islam written by J. Cesari and published by Springer. This book was released on 2013-07-24 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jocelyne Cesari examines the idea that Islam might threaten the core values of the West through testimonies from Muslims in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the US. Her book is an unprecedented exploration of Muslim religious and political life based on several years of field work in Europe and in the United States.

Download or read book Pilgrims of Christ on the Muslim Road written by Paul-Gordon Chandler and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2008-10-03 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today's tensions between the 'Islamic' East and 'Christian' West run high. Here Paul-Gordon Chandler presents fresh thinking in the area of Christian-Muslim relations, showing how Christ_whom Islam reveres as a Prophet and Christianity worships as the divine Messiah_can close the gap between the two religions. Historically, Christians have taken a confrontational or missionary approach toward Islam, leading many Muslims to identify Christianity with the cultural prejudices and hegemonic ambitions of Westerners. On the individual level, Christ-followers within Islam have traditionally been encouraged by Christians to break away from their Muslim communities. Chandler boldly explores how these two major religions_which share much common heritage_can not only co-exist, but also enrich each other. He illustrates his perspective with examples from the life of Syrian novelist Mazhar Mallouhi, widely read in the Middle East. Mallouhi, a self-identified 'Sufi Muslim follower of Christ,' seeks to bridge the chasm of misunderstanding between Muslims and Christians through his novels.

Download or read book Exploring Islam beyond Orientalism and Occidentalism written by Christel Gärtner and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-06-29 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Islamic religion has become an object of political discourse in ways that also affects academic reflection; against this background this volume aims to provide a theoretically and empirically founded assessment of where social sciences currently stand with regard to Islam. For this purpose, the volume continues to develop the sociological knowledge of Islam that began in the 1980s. Given the Orientalism inherent in sociology, the volume focuses on Muslim knowledge systems and institutions, as well as the practice of Muslim religiosity in various social contexts stretching from Algeria and Morocco to Turkey.

Download or read book Exploring the Qur'an written by Muhammad Abdel Haleem and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-04-21 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The teachings, style and impact of the Qur'an have always been matters of controversy, among both Muslims and non-Muslims. But in a modern context of intercultural sensitivity, what the Qur'an says and means are perhaps more urgent questions than ever before. This major new book by one of the world's finest Islamic scholars responds to that urgency. Building on his earlier groundbreaking work, the author challenges misinterpretations of particular Qur'anic verses from whatever quarter. He addresses the infamous 'sword' verse, frequently cited as a justification for jihad. He also questions the 'tribute' verse, associated with the Muslim state subjugating Jews and Christians; and the idea of Paradise in the Qur'an, often viewed by the West as emphasising merely physical pleasures, or used by Islamic fighters as their just reward for holy war. The author argues that wrenching the verses out of the context of the whole has led to dangerous ideologies being built on isolated phrases which have then assumed afterlives of their own. This nuanced, holistic reading has vital interfaith ramifications.

Download or read book What Is Islam? written by Shahab Ahmed and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-11-17 with total page 629 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A bold new conceptualization of Islam that reflects its contradictions and rich diversity What is Islam? How do we grasp a human and historical phenomenon characterized by such variety and contradiction? What is "Islamic" about Islamic philosophy or Islamic art? Should we speak of Islam or of islams? Should we distinguish the Islamic (the religious) from the Islamicate (the cultural)? Or should we abandon "Islamic" altogether as an analytical term? In What Is Islam?, Shahab Ahmed presents a bold new conceptualization of Islam that challenges dominant understandings grounded in the categories of "religion" and "culture" or those that privilege law and scripture. He argues that these modes of thinking obstruct us from understanding Islam, distorting it, diminishing it, and rendering it incoherent. What Is Islam? formulates a new conceptual language for analyzing Islam. It presents a new paradigm of how Muslims have historically understood divine revelation—one that enables us to understand how and why Muslims through history have embraced values such as exploration, ambiguity, aestheticization, polyvalence, and relativism, as well as practices such as figural art, music, and even wine drinking as Islamic. It also puts forward a new understanding of the historical constitution of Islamic law and its relationship to philosophical ethics and political theory. A book that is certain to provoke debate and significantly alter our understanding of Islam, What Is Islam? reveals how Muslims have historically conceived of and lived with Islam as norms and truths that are at once contradictory yet coherent.