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| islam between east and west: Islam Between East and West Alija 'Ali Izetbegovic, 1984-01-01 Islam Between East and West - Islamic and Western philosophies examined, by the first president of Bosnia. In comparing the offerings of secular civilization with the truths and justice of Islam, the author analyzes the West’s denial of Islam and the lack of progress among Muslims. An inspiring and astonishingly integrated analysis of the human condition. The seep of its power gives an invigorating sense of the beauty and universality of Islam. Referrals for Islam Between East and West An inspiring and astonishingly integrated analysis of the human condition. The sweep of its power gives an invigorating sense of the beauty and universality of Islam. Robin Woodsworth Carlsen For centuries Europe has benefitted from Islam, often without acknowledging it and without giving anything in return. Now with the publication of Islam Between East and West, Europe has begun to pay its debt to Islam. Rational and yet not insulting to the emotions, it exalts the spirit without denigrating the body. But what stands it apart as a landmark is its transcendental wisdom expressed in a style inherent to all noble ideas. Doubtless, its appeal will go beyond its time because it embraces life - and there is no theme greater than life. M . Tariq |
| islam between east and west: Islam Between East and West Alija Izetbegović, 2013-08-14 Examining the historical conflicts between “faith” and “materialism”, the author presents the “bipolarity” of Islam, bringing us close to the only three possible worldviews: religious, materialistic and Islamic. He presents Islam as a method, not as a ready-made solution. In his nearly existential view, Islam is not something given, but a “Third Way” that has to be discovered for oneself; as it integrates both the religious and the materialistic and thus being the target of attack from “religion” as well as materialistic ideologies. Destoyvsky, Herman Hesse, Van Gogh, St Augestine, Kant, Nietszhe, Dante et al… All titans of Continental literature, art and thought join Izetbegovic in his take on two dominant aspects of human life: culture and civilisation. |
| islam between east and west: Islam Through Western Eyes Jonathan Lyons, 2014-01-01 Despite the West's growing involvement in Muslim societies, conflicts, and cultures, its inability to understand or analyze the Islamic world threatens any prospect for East–West rapprochement. Impelled by one thousand years of anti-Muslim ideas and images, the West has failed to engage in any meaningful or productive way with the world of Islam. Formulated in the medieval halls of the Roman Curia and courts of the European Crusaders and perfected in the newsrooms of Fox News and CNN, this anti-Islamic discourse determines what can and cannot be said about Muslims and their religion, trapping the West in a dangerous, dead-end politics that it cannot afford. In Islam Through Western Eyes, Jonathan Lyons unpacks Western habits of thinking and writing about Islam, conducting a careful analysis of the West's grand totalizing narrative across one thousand years of history. He observes the discourse’s corrosive effects on the social sciences, including sociology, politics, philosophy, theology, international relations, security studies, and human rights scholarship. He follows its influence on research, speeches, political strategy, and government policy, preventing the West from responding effectively to its most significant twenty-first-century challenges: the rise of Islamic power, the emergence of religious violence, and the growing tension between established social values and multicultural rights among Muslim immigrant populations. Through the intellectual archaeology of Michel Foucault, Lyons reveals the workings of this discourse and its underlying impact on our social, intellectual, and political lives. He then addresses issues of deep concern to Western readers—Islam and modernity, Islam and violence, and Islam and women—and proposes new ways of thinking about the Western relationship to the Islamic world. |
| islam between east and west: Western Muslims and the Future of Islam Tariq Ramadan, 2004 Begins by offering a reading of Islamic sources, interpreting them for a Western context. The author demonstrates how an understanding of universal Islamic principles can open the door to integration into Western societies. He then shows how these principles can be put to practical use. |
| islam between east and west: Rulers, Religion, and Riches Jared Rubin, 2017-02-16 For centuries following the spread of Islam, the Middle East was far ahead of Europe. Yet, the modern economy was born in Europe. Why was it not born in the Middle East? In this book Jared Rubin examines the role that Islam played in this reversal of fortunes. It argues that the religion itself is not to blame; the importance of religious legitimacy in Middle Eastern politics was the primary culprit. Muslim religious authorities were given an important seat at the political bargaining table, which they used to block important advancements such as the printing press and lending at interest. In Europe, however, the Church played a weaker role in legitimizing rule, especially where Protestantism spread (indeed, the Reformation was successful due to the spread of printing, which was blocked in the Middle East). It was precisely in those Protestant nations, especially England and the Dutch Republic, where the modern economy was born. |
| islam between east and west: Science and Religion Yiftach Fehige, 2016-02-12 This volume situates itself within the context of the rapidly growing interdisciplinary field that is dedicated to the study of the complex interactions between science and religion. It presents an innovative approach insofar as it addresses the Eurocentrism that is still prevalent in this field. At the same time it reveals how science develops in the space that emerges between the ‘local’ and the ‘global’. The volume examines a range of themes central to the interaction between science and religion: ‘Eastern’ thought within ‘Western’ science and religion and vice versa, and revisits thinkers who sought to integrate ‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’ thinking. It studies Zen Buddhism and its relation to psychotherapy, Islamic science, Vedantic science, atheism in India, and Darwinism, offering in turn new perspectives on a variety of approaches to nature. Part of the Science and Technology Studies series, this volume brings together original perspectives from major scholars from across disciplines and will be of great interest to scholars and students of science and technology studies, history of science, philosophy of science, religious studies, and sociology. |
| islam between east and west: Islam and the West Mustapha Chérif, 2009-05-15 In the spring of 2003, Jacques Derrida sat down for a public debate in Paris with Algerian intellectual Mustapha Chérif. The eminent philosopher arrived at the event directly from the hospital where he had just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the illness that would take his life just over a year later. That he still participated in the exchange testifies to the magnitude of the subject at hand: the increasingly distressed relationship between Islam and the West, and the questions of freedom, justice, and democracy that surround it. As Chérif relates in this account of their dialogue, the topic of Islam held special resonance for Derrida—perhaps it is to be expected that near the end of his life his thoughts would return to Algeria, the country where he was born in 1930. Indeed, these roots served as the impetus for their conversation, which first centers on the ways in which Derrida’s Algerian-Jewish identity has shaped his thinking. From there, the two men move to broader questions of secularism and democracy; to politics and religion and how the former manipulates the latter; and to the parallels between xenophobia in the West and fanaticism among Islamists. Ultimately, the discussion is an attempt to tear down the notion that Islam and the West are two civilizations locked in a bitter struggle for supremacy and to reconsider them as the two shores of the Mediterranean—two halves of the same geographical, religious, and cultural sphere. Islam and the West is a crucial opportunity to further our understanding of Derrida’s views on the key political and religious divisions of our time and an often moving testament to the power of friendship and solidarity to surmount them. |
| islam between east and west: The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization Richard W. Bulliet, 2006-03-22 The 'clash of civilisations' so often talked about in connection with relations between the West and Arab nations is, argues Richard Bulliet, no more than dangerous sophistry based on misconceptions in American government. He sets out the common ground between Islam and Christianity. |
| islam between east and west: Islam and the West Bernard Lewis, 1994-10-27 Hailed in The New York Times Book Review as the doyen of Middle Eastern studies, Bernard Lewis has been for half a century one of the West's foremost scholars of Islamic history and culture, the author of over two dozen books, most notably The Arabs in History, The Emergence of Modern Turkey, The Political Language of Islam, and The Muslim Discovery of Europe. Eminent French historian Robert Mantran has written of Lewis's work: How could one resist being attracted to the books of an author who opens for you the doors of an unknown or misunderstood universe, who leads you within to its innermost domains: religion, ways of thinking, conceptions of power, culture--an author who upsets notions too often fixed, fallacious, or partisan. In Islam and the West, Bernard Lewis brings together in one volume eleven essays that indeed open doors to the innermost domains of Islam. Lewis ranges far and wide in these essays. He includes long pieces, such as his capsule history of the interaction--in war and peace, in commerce and culture--between Europe and its Islamic neighbors, and shorter ones, such as his deft study of the Arabic word watan and what its linguistic history reveals about the introduction of the idea of patriotism from the West. Lewis offers a revealing look at Edward Gibbon's portrait of Muhammad in Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (unlike previous writers, Gibbon saw the rise of Islam not as something separate and isolated, nor as a regrettable aberration from the onward march of the church, but simply as a part of human history); he offers a devastating critique of Edward Said's controversial book, Orientalism; and he gives an account of the impediments to translating from classic Arabic to other languages (the old dictionaries, for one, are packed with scribal errors, misreadings, false analogies, and etymological deductions that pay little attention to the evolution of the language). And he concludes with an astute commentary on the Islamic world today, examining revivalism, fundamentalism, the role of the Shi'a, and the larger question of religious co-existence between Muslims, Christians, and Jews. A matchless guide to the background of Middle East conflicts today, Islam and the West presents the seasoned reflections of an eminent authority on one of the most intriguing and little understood regions in the world. |
| islam between east and west: Sufism East and West Jamal Malik, Saeed Zarrabi-Zadeh, 2019-07-15 In Sufism East and West, the contributors investigate the redirection and dynamics of Sufism in the modern era, specifically from the perspective of global cross-cultural exchange. Edited by Jamal Malik and Saeed Zarrabi-Zadeh, the book explores the role of mystical Islam in the complex interchange and fluidity in the resonance spaces of “East” and “West.” The volume challenges the enduring Orientalist binary coding of East-versus-West and argues instead for a more mutual process of cultural plaiting and shared tradition. By highlighting amendments, adaptations and expansions of Sufi semantics during the last centuries, it also questions the persistent perception of Sufism in its post-classical epoch as a corrupt imitation of the legacy of the great Sufis of the past. |
| islam between east and west: What the West is Getting Wrong about the Middle East Ömer Taspinar, 2020-09-17 The West's actions in the Middle East are based on a fundamental misunderstanding: political Islam is repeatedly assumed to be the main cause of conflict and unrest in the region. The idea that we can decipher Jihadist radicalization or problems in the Middle East simply by reading the Qur'an has now become symptomatic of our age. This dangerous over-simplification and the West's obsession with Islam dominates media and policy analysis, ultimately skewing intervention and preventing long-term solutions and stability in the region. Ömer Taspinar, who has 20 years' research and policymaking experience, explains here what is really going on in the Middle East. The book is based on three of the most pressing cases currently under the spotlight: the role of Erdogan and the unrest in Turkey; the sectarian clashes in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon; and the existence of the so-called Islamic State. Islam is often seen as the root cause of the challenge associated with these cases. But by unpacking the real issues, such as entrenched authoritarianism, vast energy resources, excessive defense spending, and the youth bulge, the book demystifies what is happening and cites governance and nationalism as the main drivers of conflict. The book shows the importance of treating the causes – which are economic, social and institutional – rather than the symptom – the continued and growing success of Islamist parties and jihadist movements in assessing the Middle East. In revealing exactly how Islamism is activated and by analyzing the structural challenges of the region, this unique insider's account provides a map to understanding Middle Eastern wars and conflicts and the prospects for the future. |
| islam between east and west: Islam Between East and West Alija Izetbegović, 2010 |
| islam between east and west: Islam and Asia Chiara Formichi, 2020-05-07 An accessible, transregional exploration of how Islam and Asia have shaped each other's histories, societies and cultures from the seventh century to today. |
| islam between east and west: 111 Questions on Islam Samir Khalil Samir, 2014-07-08 The terrorist attack on the Twin Towers, the Afghan conflict, waves of migration, and the presence of twelve million Muslims in the European Union: these are just a few of the things that have helped contribute to a growing interest in Islam, its culture, and its followers. They awaken old and new questions about a religious, cultural, and political reality that 1,200,000,000 people consider themselves a part of. This book is the result of a series of extended interviews between an internationally acclaimed expert on Islam and two journalists who have dedicated themselves for many years to studying key themes of Islam and analyzing the possibility of coexistence between people of different faiths and cultures. How was Islam born? What does the Qur'an represent for Muslims? What relationships have developed between Islam and violence, between Islamic culture and the West? How can a real integration of Islam take place in European societies? What are the conditions for a constructive encounter between Christians and Muslims? Samir Khalil Samir one of the world's leading experts on Islam responds to these questions in an in-depth interview that can help one learn and judge for oneself, without prejudice or naivete. This is a contribution in the spirit of the realism needed in order to build adequate ways of living with those who have become our new neighbors. |
| islam between east and west: Inspired by the East William Greenwood, Lucien De Guise, 2019 A broad view of the West's complex relationship with the Middle East and North Africa, told through a selection of exquisite art objects. |
| islam between east and west: The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam Bat Yeʼor, 1996 In two waves of Islamic expansion the Christian and Jewish populations of the Mediterranean regions and Mesopotamia, who had developed the most prestigious civilizations of the time, were conquered by jihad. Millions of Christians from Spain, Egypt, Syria, Greece, and Armenia; Latins and Slavs from southern and central Europe; as well as Jews were henceforth governed by the shari'a (Islamic law). |
| islam between east and west: Inescapable Questions Alija Izetbegović, 2003 The auto-biography of the first President of the newly-independent Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. |
| islam between east and west: The War for Muslim Minds Gilles Kepel, 2006-04-30 The events of September 11, 2001, forever changed the world as we knew it. In their wake, the quest for international order has prompted a reshuffling of global aims and priorities. In a fresh approach, Gilles Kepel focuses on the Middle East as a nexus of international disorder and decodes the complex language of war, propaganda, and terrorism that holds the region in its thrall. The breakdown of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in 2000 was the first turn in a downward spiral of violence and retribution. Meanwhile, a neo-conservative revolution in Washington unsettled U.S. Mideast policy, which traditionally rested on the twin pillars of Israeli security and access to Gulf oil. In Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, a transformation of the radical Islamist doctrine of Bin Laden and Zawahiri relocated the arena of terrorist action from Muslim lands to the West; Islamist radicals proclaimed jihad against their enemies worldwide. Kepel examines the impact of global terrorism and the ensuing military operations to stem its tide. He questions the United States' ability to address the Middle East challenge with Cold War rhetoric, while revealing the fault lines in terrorist ideology and tactics. Finally, he proposes the way out of the Middle East quagmire that triangulates the interests of Islamists, the West, and the Arab and Muslim ruling elites. Kepel delineates the conditions for the acceptance of Israel, for the democratization of Islamist and Arab societies, and for winning the minds and hearts of Muslims in the West. |
| islam between east and west: Machiavelli, Islam and the East Lucio Biasiori, Giuseppe Marcocci, 2017-10-28 This volume provides the first survey of the unexplored connections between Machiavelli’s work and the Islamic world, running from the Arabic roots of The Prince to its first translations into Ottoman Turkish and Arabic. It investigates comparative descriptions of non-European peoples, Renaissance representations of Muḥammad and the Ottoman military discipline, a Jesuit treatise in Persian for a Mughal emperor, peculiar readers from Brazil to India, and the parallel lives of Machiavelli and the bureaucrat Celālzāde Muṣṭafá. Ten distinguished scholars analyse the backgrounds, circulation and reception of Machiavelli’s writings, focusing on many aspects of the mutual exchange of political theories and grammars between East and West. A significant contribution to attempts by current scholarship to challenge any rigid separation within Eurasia, this volume restores a sense of the global spreading of books, ideas and men in the past. |
| islam between east and west: Orientalists, Islamists and the Global Public Sphere Dietrich Jung, 2011 In light of the ongoing public debate that focuses on differences between Islam and the West, this book suggests a change of perspective. It departs from the observation that both western Orientalists and Islamist activists have defined Islam similarly as an all-encompassing religious, political and social system. In shifting from differences to similarities, it leaves behind the increasingly circular debate about the true nature of Islam in which the Muslim religion has been represented either as intrinsically hostile to or as principally compatible with modern culture. Instead, it associates the evolution of a particularly essentialist image of Islam with a complex process of cross-cutting (self)-interpretations of Muslim and Western societies within an emerging global public sphere. Putting its focus on the life and work of a number of paradigmatic individuals, the book investigates the intellectual encounters and discursive interdependencies among western and Muslim intellectuals. In a historical genealogy it deconstructs the essentialist image of Islam in uncovering its conceptual foundations in the modern transformation of European and Muslim societies from the nineteenth century onwards. Thereby, the changing infrastructure of the global public sphere has facilitated the gradual popularization, trivialization, and dissemination of a previously elitist discourse on Islam and modernity. In this way, the idea of Islam as an all-encompassing system has been turned into accepted knowledge in the Western and Muslim worlds alike. |
| islam between east and west: Religion and Ecology Whitney A. Bauman, 2014-04-29 Moving beyond identity politics while continuing to respect diverse entities and concerns, Whitney A. Bauman builds a planetary politics that better responds to the realities of a pluralistic world. Calling attention to the historical, political, and ecological influences shaping our understanding of nature, religion, humanity, and identity, Bauman collapses the boundaries separating male from female, biology from machine, human from more than human, and religion from science, encouraging readers to embrace hybridity and the inherent fluctuations of an open, evolving global community. As he outlines his planetary ethic, Bauman concurrently develops an environmental ethic of movement that relies not on place but on the daily connections we make across the planet. He shows how both identity politics and environmental ethics fail to realize planetary politics and action, limited as they are by foundational modes of thought that create entire worlds out of their own logic. Introducing a postfoundational vision not rooted in the formal principles of nature or God and not based in the idea of human exceptionalism, Bauman draws on cutting-edge insights from queer, poststructural, and deconstructive theory and makes a major contribution to the study of religion, science, politics, and ecology. |
| islam between east and west: Political Philosophy in the East and West Jaan Islam, 2018-10-29 In the 21st century, amid converging global political, social, and economic forces we are questioning the fundamental values we hold true, driven by an antagonism between different schools of philosophy--between left- and right-wing politics. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of western political philosophy and underlines the core principles of each argument. It then argues that neither have we solved nor do we have any pathway to eventually solve, the question of right and wrong--we are essentially moral relativists in disguise. In order to break out of this cycle of uncertainty, the book proposes a solution of knowledge-based cognition: policy based on a concrete and proven understanding of an absolute and certain body of truths. This requires an analysis and blending of non-western political philosophical traditions, such as those espoused by Islam and Confucianism. This book gives an original critique of western political philosophy and is the first book to engage in a reconstruction of Islamic political philosophy. |
| islam between east and west: What's Right with Islam Feisal Abdul Rauf, 2005-04-26 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. |
| islam between east and west: Izetbegovic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Alija Izetbegovi'c, 2001-11-30 As the leading Muslim political spokesman and intellectual, Izetbegovi'c was imprisoned by the Yugoslavian government in 1983 for a 14-year sentence. During the six years he served in prison, Izetbegovi'c wrote notes on life issues, religion and culture, and politics and political philosophy. These reflections were smuggled out of prison and edited for publication along with a selection of letters from his family. After describing prison life, Izetbegovi'c has organized his reflections into sections. From his first note When I lose the reasons to live, I shall die, Izetbegovi'c provides a provocative collection of reflections that will interest scholars and researchers of contemporary Balkans, European Islam, and life during the last days of Communist Yugoslavia. |
| islam between east and west: Islam Between East and West: New Reflections Alija Izetbegovic, Incarcerated by the Communist regime in Yugoslavia for five arduous years, Alija Izetbegovic penned these treasured philosophical reflections on diverse topics such as freedom, politics, history, religion and morality. Confined to his cell in Foča Prison, Sarajevo, he filled thirteen notebooks with these wonderful pearls of wisdom and managed to smuggle them out with the help of a fellow inmate. These notes are now presented for the first time as part of a series. Notes from Prison is Alija Izetbegovic’s spiritual escape to freedom and makes for an outstandingly unique read, both in form and content. |
| islam between east and west: Islamic Imperialism Efraim Karsh, 2007-01-01 From the first Arab-Islamic Empire of the mid-seventh century to the Ottomans, the last great Muslim empire, the story of the Middle East has been the story of the rise and fall of universal empires and, no less important, of imperialist dreams. So argues Efraim Karsh in this highly provocative book. Rejecting the conventional Western interpretation of Middle Eastern history as an offshoot of global power politics, Karsh contends that the region's experience is the culmination of long-existing indigenous trends, passions, and patterns of behavior, and that foremost among these is Islam's millenarian imperial tradition. The author explores the history of Islam's imperialism and the persistence of the Ottoman imperialist dream that outlasted World War I to haunt Islamic and Middle Eastern politics to the present day. September 11 can be seen as simply the latest expression of this dream, and such attacks have little to do with U.S. international behavior or policy in the Middle East, says Karsh. The House of Islam's war for world mastery is traditional, indeed venerable, and it is a quest that is far from over. |
| islam between east and west: Is Islam an Enemy of the West? Tamara Sonn, 2016-11-17 New York, Washington, Madrid, London and now Paris Ð the list of Western cities targeted by radical Islamic terrorists waging global jihad continues to grow. Does this extreme violence committed in the name of Islam point to a fundamental enmity between the Muslim faith and the West? In this compelling essay, leading scholar of Islam Tamara Sonn argues that whilst the West has many enemies among Muslims, it is politics not religion that informs their grievances. The longer these demands remain frustrated, the more violence has escalated and recruitment to groups like Islamic State has increased. Far from quelling the spread of Islamic extremism, Western military intervention has helped to turn nationalist movements into radical terrorist groups with international agendas. Islam, Sonn concludes, is not the problem, just as war is not the solution. |
| islam between east and west: A World Without Islam Graham E. Fuller, 2014-05-22 This book will reshape the way we think about Islam's relationship with the West. What if Islam never existed? To some, it's a comforting thought: no clash of civilizations, no holy wars, no terrorists. Here, political scientist and expert on the Muslim world Graham E. Fuller guides us through history, geopolitics, and religion to investigate whether or not Islam is indeed the cause of some of today's most emotional and important international crises. Fuller takes us from the birth of Islam to the fall of Rome to the rise and collapse of the Ottoman Empire. He examines and analyzes the roots of terrorism, the conflict in Israel, and the role of Islam in supporting and energizing the anti-imperial struggle. Provocatively, he finds that contrary to the claims of many politicians, thinkers, theologians, and soldiers, a world without Islam might not look vastly different from what we know today.--From publisher description. |
| islam between east and west: The Appearance of Man Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, 1965 |
| islam between east and west: Awakening Islam Stéphane Lacroix, 2011-04-15 With unprecedented access to a closed culture, Lacroix offers an account of Islamism in Saudi Arabia. Tracing the last half-century of the Sahwa, or “Islamic Awakening,” he explains the brand of Islam that gave birth to Osama bin Laden—one that has been exported, and dangerously misunderstood, around the world. |
| islam between east and west: Defenders of the West Raymond Ibrahim, 2022-07-26 A riveting account of the lives and epic battles of eight Western defenders against violent Islamic jihad that sheds much-needed light on the enduring conflict with radical Islam. In Defenders of the West, the author of Sword and Scimitar follows up with vivid and dramatic profiles of eight extraordinary warriors—some saints, some sinners—who defended the Christian West against Islamic invasions. Discover the real Count Dracula, Spain’s El Cid, England’s Richard Lionheart, and many other historical figures, whose true and original claim to fame revolved around their defiant stance against jihadist aggression. Defenders of the West is an instructive and inspiring read. Whereas Sword and Scimitar revolved around decisive battles, Defenders of the West revolves around decisive men. |
| islam between east and west: Islam Under Siege Akbar S. Ahmed, 2003-08-08 In this groundbreaking book, Akbar Ahmed, one of the world's leading authorities on Islam, who has worked in the Muslim world but lives in the West, explains what is going wrong in his society by referring to Islamic history and beliefs. Employing theological and anthropological perspectives, he attempts to answer the questions that people in the West are asking about Islam: Why do they hate us? Is Islam compatible with democracy? Does Islam subjugate women? Does the Quran preach violence? These important questions are of relevance to Muslims and to non-Muslims alike. Islam Under Siege points out the need for, and provides the route to, the dialogue of civilizations. September 11, 2001, underlined the role of Islam in our time. In its demographic spread, its political span, and its religious commitment, Islam will be an increasingly forceful presence on the world stage in the twenty-first century. While some scholars predict that there will be a clash of civilizations, others see a need for a dialogue of civilizations. This book will help students, scholars of politics, sociology, international relations, and cultural studies, and reporters as well as a more general audience interested in some of the most important issues of our time. |
| islam between east and west: Islam in Liberalism Joseph A. Massad, 2015-01-06 “Demonstrates that Western liberal ‘democracy’, portrayed as foreign to ‘Islam’, necessarily serves an imperial project. . . . timely and controversial.” —Politics, Religion & Ideology Islam is often associated with words like oppression, totalitarianism, intolerance, cruelty, misogyny, and homophobia, while its presumed antonyms are Christianity, the West, liberalism, individualism, freedom, citizenship, and democracy. In the most alarmist views, the West’s most cherished values—freedom, equality, and tolerance—are said to be endangered by Islam worldwide. Joseph Massad’s Islam in Liberalism explores what Islam has become in today’s world. He seeks to understand how anxieties about tyranny, intolerance, misogyny, and homophobia, seen in the politics of the Middle East, are projected onto Islam itself. Massad shows that through this projection Europe emerges as democratic and tolerant, feminist, and pro-LGBT rights—or, in short, Islam-free. Massad documents the Christian and liberal idea that we should missionize democracy, women’s rights, sexual rights, tolerance, equality, and even therapies to cure Muslims of their un-European, un-Christian, and illiberal ways. Along the way he sheds light on a variety of controversial topics, including the meanings of democracy—and the ideological assumption that Islam is not compatible with it while Christianity is. Islam in Liberalism is an unflinching critique of Western assumptions and of the liberalism that Europe and America present as salvation to Islam. “Essential reading for all scholars of Islam and Middle East politics.” —Cambridge Review of International Affairs “Reminds us that in order to move beyond scholarship revolving around a simplistic binarism between West and non-West, we must never forget how this opposition has shaped and continues to actively influence scholarship today.” —Los Angeles Review of Books |
| islam between east and west: Crusade and Jihad William Roe Polk, 2018-01-01 Encompasses the entire history of the catastrophic encounter between the Global North--China, Russia, Europe, Britain, and America--and Muslim societies from Central Asia to West Africa, explaining the deep hostilities between them and how they grew over the centuries. --Adapted from publisher description. |
| islam between east and west: A History of Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Middle East Heather J. Sharkey, 2017-04-03 This book traces the history of conflict and contact between Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Ottoman Middle East prior to 1914. |
| islam between east and west: Idols in the East Suzanne Conklin Akbari, 2012-05-08 Representations of Muslims have never been more common in the Western imagination than they are today. Building on Orientalist stereotypes constructed over centuries, the figure of the wily Arab has given rise, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, to the Islamist terrorist. In Idols in the East, Suzanne Conklin Akbari explores the premodern background of some of the Orientalist types still pervasive in present-day depictions of Muslims-the irascible and irrational Arab, the religiously deviant Islamist-and about how these stereotypes developed over time. Idols in the East contributes to the recent surge of interest in European encounters with Islam and the Orient in the premodern world. Focusing on the medieval period, Akbari examines a broad range of texts including encyclopedias, maps, medical and astronomical treatises, chansons de geste, romances, and allegories to paint an unusually diverse portrait of medieval culture. Among the texts she considers are The Book of John Mandeville, The Song of Roland, Parzival, and Dante's Divine Comedy. From them she reveals how medieval writers and readers understood and explained the differences they saw between themselves and the Muslim other. Looking forward, Akbari also comes to terms with how these medieval conceptions fit with modern discussions of Orientalism, thus providing an important theoretical link to postcolonial and postimperial scholarship on later periods. Far reaching in its implications and balanced in its judgments, Idols in the East will be of great interest to not only scholars and students of the Middle Ages but also anyone interested in the roots of Orientalism and its tangled relationship to modern racism and anti-Semitism. |
| islam between east and west: Routledge Handbook of Islam in the West Roberto Tottoli, 2022-02-21 With new topics and contributions, this updated second edition discusses the history and contemporary presence of Islam in Europe and America. The book debates the relevance and multi-faceted participation of Muslims in the dynamics of Western societies, challenging the changing perception on both sides. Collating over 30 chapters, written by experts from around the world, the volume presents a wide range of perspectives. Case studies from the Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula between the Middle Ages and the modern age set off the Handbook, along with an outline of Muslims in America up to the twentieth century. The second part covers concepts around new conditions in terms of consolidating identities, the emergence of new Muslim actors, the appearance of institutions and institutional attitudes, the effects of Islamic presence on the arts and landscapes of the West, and the relational dynamics like ethics and gender. Exploring the influence of Islam, particularly its impact on society, culture and politics, this interdisciplinary volume is a key resource for policymakers, academics and students interested in the history of Islam, religion and the contemporary relationship between Islam and the West. |
| islam between east and west: A Culture of Ambiguity Thomas Bauer, 2021-06-08 In the Western imagination, Islamic cultures are dominated by dogmatic religious norms that permit no nuance. Those fighting such stereotypes have countered with a portrait of Islam’s medieval “Golden Age,” marked by rationality, tolerance, and even proto-secularism. How can we understand Islamic history, culture, and thought beyond this dichotomy? In this magisterial cultural and intellectual history, Thomas Bauer reconsiders classical and modern Islam by tracing differing attitudes toward ambiguity. Over a span of many centuries, he explores the tension between one strand that aspires to annihilate all uncertainties and establish absolute, uncontestable truths and another, competing tendency that looks for ways to live with ambiguity and accept complexity. Bauer ranges across cultural and linguistic ambiguities, considering premodern Islamic textual and cultural forms from law to Quranic exegesis to literary genres alongside attitudes toward religious minorities and foreigners. He emphasizes the relative absence of conflict between religious and secular discourses in classical Islamic culture, which stands in striking contrast to both present-day fundamentalism and much of European history. Bauer shows how Islam’s encounter with the modern West and its demand for certainty helped bring about both Islamicist and secular liberal ideologies that in their own ways rejected ambiguity—and therefore also their own cultural traditions. Awarded the prestigious Leibniz Prize, A Culture of Ambiguity not only reframes a vast range of Islamic history but also offers an interdisciplinary model for investigating the tolerance of ambiguity across cultures and eras. |
| islam between east and west: Sword and Scimitar Raymond Ibrahim, 2018-08-28 A sweeping history of the often-violent conflict between Islam and the West, shedding a revealing light on current hostilities The West and Islam -- the sword and scimitar -- have clashed since the mid-seventh century, when, according to Muslim tradition, the Roman emperor rejected Prophet Muhammad's order to abandon Christianity and convert to Islam, unleashing a centuries-long jihad on Christendom. Sword and Scimitar chronicles the decisive battles that arose from this ages-old Islamic jihad, beginning with the first major Islamic attack on Christian land in 636, through the Muslim occupation of nearly three-quarters of Christendom which prompted the Crusades, followed by renewed Muslim conquests by Turks and Tatars, to the European colonization of the Muslim world in the 1800s, when Islam largely went on the retreat -- until its reemergence in recent times. Using original sources in Arabic and Greek, preeminent historian Raymond Ibrahim describes each battle in vivid detail and explains how these wars and the larger historical currents of the age reflect the cultural fault lines between Islam and the West. The majority of these landmark battles -- including the battles of Yarmuk, Tours, Manzikert, the sieges at Constantinople and Vienna, and the crusades in Syria and Spain--are now forgotten or considered inconsequential. Yet today, as the West faces a resurgence of this enduring Islamic jihad, Sword and Scimitar provides the needed historical context to understand the current relationship between the West and the Islamic world -- and why the Islamic State is merely the latest chapter of an old history. |
Islam - Wikipedia
Islam [a] is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, [12] and the teachings of Muhammad. [13] Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number 2 billion …
Islam Religion - What is Islam
Islam is one of the world’s major religions, followed by over 1.9 billion people globally. It is a faith based on the principles of monotheism, the belief in one Allah, and was revealed to the world …
Islam | Religion, Beliefs, Practices, & Facts | Britannica
6 days ago · Islam, major world religion that emphasizes monotheism, the unity of God (‘Allah’ in Arabic), and Muhammad as his final messenger in a series of revelations. As the literal word of …
Islam - Five Pillars, Nation of Islam & Definition - HISTORY
Jan 5, 2018 · Islam is the second-largest religion in the world after Christianity, with about 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide.
What is Islam? - IslamiCity
Commonly, Islam refers to the monotheistic religion revealed to Muhammad ibn (son of) Abdullah between 610 and 632 of the Common Era. The name Islam was instituted by the Qur’an, the …
The Religion of Islam
Mar 8, 2006 · This website is for people of various faiths who seek to understand Islam and Muslims. It contains a lot of brief, yet informative articles about different aspects of Islam. New …
Islam: History, Beliefs, And Modern Significance - WorldAtlas
Jun 3, 2019 · The Five Pillars of Islam make up the main tenants of the Muslim religion. The basis of this belief system is rooted in the daily practice of prayers, strict observance of Ramadan, …
What is Islam? History and Beliefs of the Muslim Religion - Bart D.
Mar 21, 2024 · Explore 'What is Islam?'—an overview of its history, core beliefs, practices, and the profound impact of Islam's founder on the global Muslim community, all presented from a …
What is Islam - إسلام ويب
Jul 24, 2001 · Islam emphasizes submission to God, guiding believers to achieve harmony with themselves and creation. Recognized as the culmination of God’s revelations to humanity, …
Islam’s beliefs, practices, and history | Britannica
Islam is a strictly monotheistic religion, and its adherents, called Muslims, regard the Prophet Muhammad as the last and most perfect of God’s messengers, who include Adam, Abraham, …
Islam - Wikipedia
Islam [a] is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, [12] and the teachings of Muhammad. [13] Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number 2 billion …
Islam Religion - What is Islam
Islam is one of the world’s major religions, followed by over 1.9 billion people globally. It is a faith based on the principles of monotheism, the belief in one Allah, and was revealed to the world …
Islam | Religion, Beliefs, Practices, & Facts | Britannica
6 days ago · Islam, major world religion that emphasizes monotheism, the unity of God (‘Allah’ in Arabic), and Muhammad as his final messenger in a series of revelations. As the literal word of …
Islam - Five Pillars, Nation of Islam & Definition - HISTORY
Jan 5, 2018 · Islam is the second-largest religion in the world after Christianity, with about 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide.
What is Islam? - IslamiCity
Commonly, Islam refers to the monotheistic religion revealed to Muhammad ibn (son of) Abdullah between 610 and 632 of the Common Era. The name Islam was instituted by the Qur’an, the …
The Religion of Islam
Mar 8, 2006 · This website is for people of various faiths who seek to understand Islam and Muslims. It contains a lot of brief, yet informative articles about different aspects of Islam. New …
Islam: History, Beliefs, And Modern Significance - WorldAtlas
Jun 3, 2019 · The Five Pillars of Islam make up the main tenants of the Muslim religion. The basis of this belief system is rooted in the daily practice of prayers, strict observance of Ramadan, …
What is Islam? History and Beliefs of the Muslim Religion - Bart D.
Mar 21, 2024 · Explore 'What is Islam?'—an overview of its history, core beliefs, practices, and the profound impact of Islam's founder on the global Muslim community, all presented from a …
What is Islam - إسلام ويب
Jul 24, 2001 · Islam emphasizes submission to God, guiding believers to achieve harmony with themselves and creation. Recognized as the culmination of God’s revelations to humanity, …
Islam’s beliefs, practices, and history | Britannica
Islam is a strictly monotheistic religion, and its adherents, called Muslims, regard the Prophet Muhammad as the last and most perfect of God’s messengers, who include Adam, Abraham, …
