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Find out moreSee below for a selection of the latest books from Islam category. Presented with a red border are the Islam books that have been lovingly read and reviewed by the experts at Lovereading. With expert reading recommendations made by people with a passion for books and some unique features Lovereading will help you find great Islam books and those from many more genres to read that will keep you inspired and entertained. And it's all free!
Mahathir Mohamad's legacy as Malaysia's longest serving prime minister (1981-2003) is deeply controversial. His engagement with Islam, the religion of just over half Malaysia's population, has often been dismissed as partisan maneuvering. Yet his willingness to countenance a more prominent place for Islam in government and society is what distinguished him from other modernist politicians, and his instinct to set Malaysian politics against the backdrop of the wider Muslim world was politically astute.Author Sven Schottmann argues that Mahathir's transformative effect on Malaysia can only be fully appreciated if we also take him seriously as one of the postcolonial Muslim world's most significant political thought leaders. Schottmann sees Mahathir's representations of Islam as a relatively coherent discourse that can legitimately be described as Mahathir's Islam. This discourse contains Mahathir's assessment of the economic, political, and sociocultural problems facing the contemporary Muslim world and the range of solutions and corrective measures that he proposed Muslims should adopt. His ideas are fraught with flaws and contradictions. On the one hand, he emphasized the individualistic, egalitarian, pluralistic, democratic, and dynamic qualities of Islam. On the other, his government enacted legislation and acquiesced in the activities of religious bodies that curtailed religious freedoms of both Muslims and non-Muslims. His ideas contributed to Malaysia's worsening state of interethnic relations, yet his insistence that every Muslim had the right to speak for Islam may have, paradoxically, prepared the ground for a future democratization of Malaysian politics. Mahathir's Islam is based on rigorous analysis of Mahathir's speeches, interviews, and writings, which the author is able to link to parallel processes elsewhere in the Muslim world-Indonesia, the Middle East, Pakistan, Turkey, and diaspora communities in the West. Mahathir's Islamic discourse, Schottmann suggests, must be read against the wider late twentieth-century resurgence of religion in general, and the post-1970s Islamic revival in particular. Balanced in approach and engagingly written, this book will be of interest to scholars and students of political science, religious studies, and others interested in Malaysia, Southeast Asia, or Mahathir himself.
Result of research into Judeo-Christian Revelation and the Qur'an. Clears away preconceptions about the Old Testament, the Gospels and the Qur'an. Sheds new light on the Holy Scriptures in this far reaching study.
How to pray if you are a Muslim. A useful dictionary for all Abrahamic religions. Step by step and the rewards of Islamic prayers. Challenging, provocative, sincere, controversial.
This monograph explores the original literary produce of Muslim mystics during the 8th -10th centuries, with special attention to 9th c. mystics, such as al-Tustari, al-Muhasibi, al-Kharraz, al-Junayd and, in particular, al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi. Unlike other studies dealing with the so-called `Formative Period', this book focuses on the extant writings of early mystics rather than on the later Sufi compilations. These early mystics articulated what would become a hallmark of Islamic mysticism: a system built around the psychological tension between the self (nafs) and the heart (qalb) and how to overcome it. Through their writings, already at this early phase, the versatility, fluidity and maturity of Islamic mysticism become apparent. This exploration thus reveals that mysticism in Islam emerged earlier than customarily acknowledged, long before Islamic mysticism became generically known as Sufism. The central figure of this book is al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi, whose teaching and inner world focus on themes such as polarity, the training of the self, the opening of the heart, the Friends of God (al-awliya'), dreams and visions, divine language, mystical exegesis and more. This book thus offers a fuller picture than hitherto presented of the versatility of themes, processes, images, practices, terminology and thought models during this early period. The volume will be a key resource for scholars and students interested in the study of religion, Sufi studies, Late Antiquity and Medieval Islam.
Focusing on apocalyptic manifestations found in ISIS propaganda, this book situates the group's agenda in the broader framework of contemporary Muslim thought and explains key topics in millennial thinking within the spiritual context of modern Islamic apocalypticism. Based on the group's primary sources as well as medieval Muslim apocalyptic literature and its modern interpretations, the book analyses the ways ISIS presents its message concerning the Last Days as a meaningful, inventive and frightening expression of collectively shared expectations relating to the supposedly approaching the End Times.
Is Sufism the spiritual answer to materialism? Details of various rituals, practices, and ceremonies. Concludes with a chapter on meditation and Zikr (Remembrance of God).
Decisive encounters between East and West--Islam and Christendom. The Crusades and the Moors in Spain. Supposes the Muslims conquered Rome (they reached the outer walls) then what of Christianity? Supposes the Crusaders conquered Egypt.
The Moors arrived in Spain in AD 711 causing upheaval on European continent. In 1492 the fall of Granada ended their lengthy stay. Industriousness and commerce, sophisticated code of laws, Beautiful architecture, Scholarly achievements in Astronomy and Mathematics were many of the legacies.
It is scarcely surprising that Persia - a land where civilization has flourished at a high level for three thousand years-would abound in worldly wisdom. This book illustrates the many ways Persian culture has influenced Persia's neighbours and become a legacy for the whole world.
Cosmology. Accuracy and inerrancy of the Qur'an. Benefits of Commandments and Prohibition. Mathematical miracles in the Qur'an.
It has been argued that the mystical Sufi form of Islam is the most sensitive to other cultures, being accommodative to other traditions and generally tolerant to peoples of other faiths. It readily becomes integrated into local cultures and they are similarly often infused into Sufism. Examples of this reciprocity are commonly reflected in Sufi poetry, music, hagiographic genres, memoires, and in the ritualistic practices of Sufi traditions. This volume shows how this often-side-lined tradition functions in the societies in which it is found, and demonstrates how it relates to mainstream Islam. The focus of this book ranges from reflecting Sufi themes in the Qur'anic calligraphy to movies, from ideals to everyday practices, from legends to actual history, from gender segregation to gender transgression, and from legalism to spiritualism. Consequently, the international panel of contributors to this volume are trained in a range of disciplines that include religious studies, history, comparative literature, anthropology, and ethnography. Covering Southeast Asia to West Africa as well as South Asia and the West, they address both historical and contemporary issues, shedding light on Sufism's adaptability. This book sets aside conventional methods of understanding Islam, such as theological, juridical, and philosophical, in favour of analysing its cultural impact. As such, it will be of great interest to all scholars of Islamic Studies, the Sociology of Religion, Religion and Media, as well as Religious Studies and Area Studies more generally.
