What is happening in Islam is of concern to more than Muslims. The Qur’an is the prime possession of Muslims: how then, are they reading and understanding their sacred Book today? This volume, originally published in 1985, examines eight writers from India, Egypt, Iran and Senegal. Their way with the Qur’an indicates how some in Islam respond to the pressures in life and thought, associated in the West with thinkers such as Kierkegaard, Marx, Camus, Kafka, Jung, Fanon and De Chardin.

On the Sunday following September 11, 2001, Reverend Kenneth Cragg worshipped as usual in his sanctuary, located directly across the street from a Muslim mosque. In a gracious act of good faith, the Islamic congregation invited the Christian congregation to join them after worship for an introduction to Islam. This event inspired Cragg to learn more about the true tenets of Islam. Was Islam really what the terrorists were saying it was, or were their beliefs terribly skewed by a deceptive ...

Kenneth Cragg (1913–2012) was one of the West's most gifted interpreters of Islam. In this deeply insightful, classic work of Qur’anic studies, he argues that the West must put aside a "spiritual imperialism" that draws on Western prescripts alien to Muslims and "learn to come within" Islam. Only then can a conversation begin that can relieve the misunderstandings and suspicion that has grown between Islam and the West in the years since 9/11.Cragg’s close and thoughtful readings a...

Originally published in 1966, this was the first of Muhammad ‘Abduh’s works to be translated into English. Risālat al Tauhid represents the most popular of his discussion of Islamic thought and belief. ‘Abduh is still quoted and revered as the father of 20th Century Muslim thinking in the Arab world and his mind, here accessible, constituted both courageous and strenuous leadership in his day. All the concerns and claims of successive exponents of duty and meaning of the mosque in...

Fourteen centuries of Islamic thought have produced a legacy of interpretive readings of the Qu'ran written almost entirely by men. Now, with Qu'ran and Woman, Amina Wadud provides a first interpretive reading by a woman, a reading which validates the female voice in the Qu'ran and brings it out of the shadows. Muslim progressives have long argued that it is not the religion but patriarchal interpretation and implementation of the Qu'ran that have kept women oppressed. For many, t...

Khaled Abou El Fadl is a classically-trained Islamic jurist, an American lawyer and law professor, and one of the most important Islamic thinkers today. In this updated and expanded edition of The Search for Beauty in Islam, Abou El Fadl offers eye-opening and enlightening insights into the contemporary realities of the current state of Islam and the West. Through a 'conference of the books,' an imagined conference of Muslim intellects from centuries past, Abou El Fadl examines the uglines...

"I grew up reading the Qur'an on my mother's lap," writes Ziauddin Sardar. "It's an experience I share with most Muslim children. And so it is that our connection to the Qur'an is infused with associations of the warmest and most enduring of human bonds." In Reading the Qur'an, Sardar--one of Europe's leading public intellectuals--laments that for far too many Muslims, the Qur'an he had learned in his mother's lap has become a stick used for ensuring conformity and suppressing dis...

This book is a compilation of writings from contemporary Islamic scholars, explaining the key concepts about the religion of Islam. It not only covers the main articles of faith, but also looks into social principles, cultural institutions and contemporary problems being faced by Muslims.

Muhammad was a great Prophet and a teacher. The Qur’an proclaims that he was chosen by Almighty Allah as a mercy to all creation (21: 107), an excellent exemplar (33: 21) who possessed an exalted standard of character and the last and final Messenger to all humankind (33: 40; 34: 28) He successfully taught and conveyed the Message of Allah to the people of Arabia and thereby transformed the pagans of the entire Arabian Peninsula into staunch believers in the unity of Allah within twenty th...

Islamic law (Shari'a) has come under fire in recent years mainly due to it not really being practiced by Muslims in so-called Muslim countries. It is presumed that it teaches hatred of women. When it does not. Islamic law protects women when practiced as it should be practiced among Muslims here in the US and abroad. The problem is that many Muslims have yielded to cultural practices that take bits and pieces of Islamic law and weave it in to non-Islamic practices.This books helps ...

A twentieth-anniversary edition of the fascinating, accessible introduction to Islam with a new preface and study guide, from the #1 bestselling author of ZealotFINALIST FOR THE GUARDIAN FIRST BOOK AWARD“Wise and passionate . . . an incisive, scholarly primer in Muslim history and an engaging personal exploration.” —The New York Times Book ReviewTwo decades after its original publication, ...

Named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most important innovators of the century, Tariq Ramadan is a leading Muslim scholar, with a large following especially among young European and American Muslims. Now, in his first book written for a wide audience, he offers a marvelous biography of the Prophet Muhammad, one that highlights the spiritual and ethical teachings of one of the most influential figures in human history. Here is a fresh and perceptive look at Muhammad, capturing a life tha...