Download or read book What Islam Did For Us written by Tim Wallace-Murphy and published by Watkins Media Limited. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In these troubled times, when Islam is under seemingly perpetual attack, it is imperative to consider how much the West owes to the religion’s spiritual insights. Bestselling author Tim Wallace-Murphy presents the first major popular book to examine the common roots of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and to reveal Islam’s immense contributions to our society—which included laying the foundations for our systems of education, astronomy, mathematics, and architecture. He also illustrates how the European Western powers helped foment the current crisis in the Middle East, and why we must strive for a just, equitable solution to these problems. Understanding can begin with this compelling acknowledgment of our shared spiritual heritage, including religious tolerance, respect for learning, and the concepts of chivalry and brotherhood.
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.
Download or read book A History of Islam in America written by Kambiz GhaneaBassiri and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-04-19 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Muslims began arriving in the New World long before the rise of the Atlantic slave trade. Kambiz GhaneaBassiri's fascinating book traces the history of Muslims in the United States and their different waves of immigration and conversion across five centuries, through colonial and antebellum America, through world wars and civil rights struggles, to the contemporary era. The book tells the often deeply moving stories of individual Muslims and their lives as immigrants and citizens within the broad context of the American religious experience, showing how that experience has been integral to the evolution of American Muslim institutions and practices. This is a unique and intelligent portrayal of a diverse religious community and its relationship with America. It will serve as a strong antidote to the current politicized dichotomy between Islam and the West, which has come to dominate the study of Muslims in America and further afield.
Download or read book Taking Back Islam written by Michael Wolfe and published by Rodale. This book was released on 2004-08-16 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A panel of thirty-five experts, writers, and religious leaders--including Muhammad Ali and Karen Armstrong--take a close-up look at the future of Islam, the historical realities that have shaped it, the paradoxes and schisms within it, the conflict between fundamentalism and progressives, and its beliefs and practices, in an informative panel discussion. Reprint. 10,000 first printing.
Download or read book Qur an in Conversation written by Michael Lawrence Birkel and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Qur'an is God's verbatim speech for most traditional Muslims. Qur'an in Conversation reflects how this sacred text of Islam comes into dialogue with the contemporary world through the voices of the eloquent interpreters gathered in this volume. In Qur'an in Conversation, author Michael Birkel engages North American Muslim religious leaders and academics in conversations of scriptural interpretation. Scholars, practicing imams, and younger public intellectuals wrestle with key suras of the Qur'an. Qur'an in Conversation demonstrates a wide spectrum of interpretation and diversity of approaches in reading Islam's scripture. The discussions directly address key issues in Muslim theology--good versus evil, the nature of God, and the future of Islam. Younger North American Muslims read the Qur'an in varied ways; this is analogous to the diverse ways in which Jews and Christians have interpreted their own holy books. Michael Birkel welcomes people of goodwill into a public conversation about the current role of Western Muslims in Islam. Qur'an in Conversation encourages non-specialists and Muslim scholars alike to imagine how the Qur'an will be interpreted among North American Muslims in years to come. --Omid Safi, Professor of Islamic Studies, University of North Carolina "Publishers Weekly"
Download or read book A Battle for the Soul of Islam written by M. Zuhdi Jasser and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-06-05 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Among the unsettling social shifts in the wake of 9/11 was the global attention paid to Islam. Here in the United States, we became divided, often sadly along partisan lines, between those who believed every Muslim was a potential threat and those who believed no Muslim could do wrong. For conservative Wisconsin native and former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, these radical times meant facing a new reality as a devout Muslim and a patriot—a certain betrayal within his faith, and a need to answer a question that crossed the minds of even the most sensitive and politically correct: “Can a good Muslim be a good American as well?” Jasser founded the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) to instill in young American Muslims an appreciation for the distinctively positive impact that this nation’s ideals of liberty have had upon the world. As a nationally recognized expert on Muslim radicalization, he offers non-Muslims a definitive comprehension of the difference between Islam and the spiritual cancer known as Islamism, or political Islam, and how violence and extremism run counter to Islam’s true teachings. As he persuasively argues, until we acknowledge the threat of Islamism in all its forms, the majority of Americans will be gulled into recognizing only the most obvious: terrorism. In A Battle for the Soul of Islam, Jasser embraces both his faith and his country while asking hard questions: * Are American Muslim children learning entitlement as victims, or are they being taught individual responsibility and critical thinking? * Are poisonous conspiracy theories dividing their American identity, or are they gaining exposure to reason, nationalism, and patriotism? * Are Muslims publicly critical of the Islamist movements of the Middle East, or do they remain silent on aspects of religious doctrine that conflict with modernity and universal equality? * Is the American press downplaying the seditious threat of homegrown Islamist radicalism and the influence of Islamists’ propaganda arm on our governmental policies? * Is our culture of political correctness a major obstacle toward long-overdue Muslim reform against Islamism? All these years after 9/11, it’s time for us to understand the true threat of Islamism. It is a Muslim problem that needs a Muslim solution, and A Battle for the Soul of Islam builds a solid, balanced, and imperative must-read foundation for the fight.
Download or read book Thomas Jefferson s Qur an written by Denise Spellberg and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2014-07-01 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this original and illuminating book, Denise A. Spellberg reveals a little-known but crucial dimension of the story of American religious freedom—a drama in which Islam played a surprising role. In 1765, eleven years before composing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson bought a Qur’an. This marked only the beginning of his lifelong interest in Islam, and he would go on to acquire numerous books on Middle Eastern languages, history, and travel, taking extensive notes on Islam as it relates to English common law. Jefferson sought to understand Islam notwithstanding his personal disdain for the faith, a sentiment prevalent among his Protestant contemporaries in England and America. But unlike most of them, by 1776 Jefferson could imagine Muslims as future citizens of his new country. Based on groundbreaking research, Spellberg compellingly recounts how a handful of the Founders, Jefferson foremost among them, drew upon Enlightenment ideas about the toleration of Muslims (then deemed the ultimate outsiders in Western society) to fashion out of what had been a purely speculative debate a practical foundation for governance in America. In this way, Muslims, who were not even known to exist in the colonies, became the imaginary outer limit for an unprecedented, uniquely American religious pluralism that would also encompass the actual despised minorities of Jews and Catholics. The rancorous public dispute concerning the inclusion of Muslims, for which principle Jefferson’s political foes would vilify him to the end of his life, thus became decisive in the Founders’ ultimate judgment not to establish a Protestant nation, as they might well have done. As popular suspicions about Islam persist and the numbers of American Muslim citizenry grow into the millions, Spellberg’s revelatory understanding of this radical notion of the Founders is more urgent than ever. Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an is a timely look at the ideals that existed at our country’s creation, and their fundamental implications for our present and future.
Download or read book Where to Start with Islam written by Samuel Green and published by . This book was released on 2019-11-30 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Samuel Green has spent more than two decades speaking with Muslims and finding out what they are taught about Jesus and his followers: that Jesus wasn't crucified, the Bible is corrupted, and the Trinity is the weak point you won't be able to explain. He has also come to realize that their book, the Qur'an, makes claims about Christianity and history that simply aren't true.Where to Start with Islam will equip you to understand and address these assumptions and know where to start as you seek to present your Muslim friends with Christ and share with them about his wonderful gift of salvation.
Download or read book Understanding Islam and Christianity written by Josh McDowell and published by Harvest House Publishers. This book was released on 2013-10-01 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For years, international apologist Josh McDowell has been alert to the challenge of Islam—and how Muslims’ objections to Christianity can raise deep doubts in believers’ minds. His recent on-the-ground research with Muslims in the Middle East has crystallized into this practical resource focusing on Jesus and the gospel. Aided by Islam expert Jim Walker, McDowell lays out the evidence on the crucial issues: What kind of prophet was Jesus? Was he the Messiah? “Son of God”? “Son of Man”? What’s that about? How are God and Jesus related? Can they both be God? The gospel—how could God dishonor his Son by letting him die horribly? What good did his death do? Aren’t the Bible’s accounts of Jesus corrupt? With all this, as well as backgrounder appendixes on the basics, believers will have authoritative evidence from Scripture and history to intelligently deal with Muslims’ questions about and challenges to Christianity.
Download or read book What s Right with Islam written by Feisal Abdul Rauf and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An American imam offers answers for today's toughest questions about Islam, and a vision for a reconciliation between Islam and the West. One of the pressing questions of our time is what went wrong in the relationship between Muslims and the West. Continuing global violence in the name of Islam reflects the deepest fears by certain Muslim factions of Western political, cultural, and economic encroachment. The solution to the current antagonism requires finding common ground upon which to build mutual respect and understanding. Who better to offer such an analysis than an American imam, someone with a foot in each world and the tools to examine the common roots of both Western and Muslim cultures; someone to explain to the non-Islamic West not just what went wrong with Islam, but what's right with Islam. Focused on finding solutions, not on determining fault, this is ultimately a hopeful, inspiring book. What's Right with Islam systematically lays out the reasons for the current dissonance between these cultures and offers a foundation and plan for improved relations. Wide-ranging in scope, What's Right with Islam elaborates in satisfying detail a vision for a Muslim world that can eventually embrace its own distinctive forms of democracy and capitalism, aspiring to a new Cordoba - a time when Jews, Christians, Muslims, and all other faith traditions will live together in peace and prosperity.
Download or read book American Islam written by Richard Wormser and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2002-02-01 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interviews with young American Muslims highlight an overview of one of America's most misunderstood religious groups, showing how Muslims maintain their traditions in the face of the permissiveness of American society. Reprint.
Download or read book The Spread of Islam in the World written by Thomas W. Arnold and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book which forms Prof. Thomas Arnold s magnum opus deals with a subject which few have broached to this day and gives an authoritative history of the expansion of Islam through peaceful preaching and missionary activity. The author has covered most of the countries where Muslims live. This book is a chronicle of fundamental importance and worth possessing.
Download or read book The Future of Islam written by John L. Esposito and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-02-04 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John L. Esposito is one of America's leading authorities on Islam. Now, in this brilliant portrait of Islam today--and tomorrow--he draws on a lifetime of thought and research to sweep away the negative stereotypes and provide an accurate, richly nuanced, and revelatory account of the fastest growing religion in the world. Here Esposito explores the major questions and issues that face Islam in the 21st century and that will deeply affect global politics. Are Islam and the West locked in a deadly clash of civilizations? Is Islam compatible with democracy and human rights? Will religious fundamentalism block the development of modern societies in the Islamic world? Will Islam overwhelm the Western societies in which so many Muslim immigrants now reside? Will Europe become Eurabia or will the Muslims assimilate? Which Muslim thinkers will be most influential in the years to come? To answer this last question he introduces the reader to a new generation of Muslim thinkers--Tariq Ramadan, Timothy Winter, Mustafa Ceric, Amina Wadud, and others--a diverse collection of Muslim men and women, both the "Martin Luthers" and the "Billy Grahams" of Islam. We meet religious leaders who condemn suicide bombing and who see the killing of unarmed men, women, and children as "worse than murder," who preach toleration and pluralism, who advocate for women's rights. The book often underscores the unexpected similarities between the Islamic world and the West and at times turns the mirror on the US, revealing how we appear to Muslims, all to highlight the crucial point that there is nothing exceptional about the Muslim faith. Recent decades have brought extraordinary changes in the Muslim world, and in addressing all of these issues, Esposito paints a complex picture of Islam in all its diversity--a picture of urgent importance as we face the challenges of the coming century.
Download or read book The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent written by Erwin W. Lutzer and published by Harvest House Publishers. This book was released on 2013-02-01 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Islam is on the rise all over the West, including America. In this compelling new book, bestselling author Erwin Lutzer urges Christians to see this as both an opportunity to share the gospel and a reason for concern. We have now reached a tipping point—the spread of Islam is rapidly altering the way we live. These changes are cause for alarm, for they endanger our freedoms of speech and religion. At the same time, this opens an incredible door of ministry for Christians, for Muslims normally do not have access to the gospel in their own lands. In The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent, readers will discover helpful answers to these questions and more: How does Islam’s growing influence affect me personally? In what ways are our freedoms of speech and religion in danger? How can I extend Christ’s love to Muslims around me? A sensitive, responsible, and highly informative must-read!
Download or read book A Common Word written by Miroslav Volf and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2010 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A letter printed in the pages of The New York times in 2007 acknowledged differences between Christianity and Islam but contended that "righteousness and good works" should be the only areas in which the two compete. That letter and a collaborative Christian response appear in this volume, which includes subsequent dialogue between Muslim and Christian scholars.
Download or read book The Mark of the Beast written by Trevor Ravenscroft and published by Weiser Books. This book was released on 1997-01-15 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the result of years of research into the history of the Spear of Destiny and the struggle between good and evil in the Western world. For 2,000 years, the Spear of Destiny, purported to have pierced the side of Christ whilehe was on the cross, has been sought by rulers of the Western world, who have tried to harness the Spear's absolute power. This book explores the odyssey of the Spear and its potential role in the Apocalypse. Illustrated.
Download or read book Christian Martyrs Under Islam written by Christian C. Sahner and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A look at the developing conflicts in Christian-Muslim relations during late antiquity and the early Islamic era How did the medieval Middle East transform from a majority-Christian world to a majority-Muslim world, and what role did violence play in this process? Christian Martyrs under Islam explains how Christians across the early Islamic caliphate slowly converted to the faith of the Arab conquerors and how small groups of individuals rejected this faith through dramatic acts of resistance, including apostasy and blasphemy. Using previously untapped sources in a range of Middle Eastern languages, Christian Sahner introduces an unknown group of martyrs who were executed at the hands of Muslim officials between the seventh and ninth centuries CE. Found in places as diverse as Syria, Spain, Egypt, and Armenia, they include an alleged descendant of Muhammad who converted to Christianity, high-ranking Christian secretaries of the Muslim state who viciously insulted the Prophet, and the children of mixed marriages between Muslims and Christians. Sahner argues that Christians never experienced systematic persecution under the early caliphs, and indeed, they remained the largest portion of the population in the greater Middle East for centuries after the Arab conquest. Still, episodes of ferocious violence contributed to the spread of Islam within Christian societies, and memories of this bloodshed played a key role in shaping Christian identity in the new Islamic empire. Christian Martyrs under Islam examines how violence against Christians ended the age of porous religious boundaries and laid the foundations for more antagonistic Muslim-Christian relations in the centuries to come.
