World Religions

One of the most influential books in history, recognized as the greatest literary masterpiece in Arabic, the Qur'an is the supreme authority and living source of all Islamic teaching, the sacred text that sets out the creed, rituals, ethics and laws of Islam. This superb new translation of the Qur'an is written in contemporary language that remains faithful to the meaning and spirit of the original, making the text crystal clear while retaining all of this great work's eloquence.

An accessible and accurate translation of the Quran that offers a rigorous analysis of its theological, metaphysical, historical and geographical teachings and backgrounds, and includes extensive study notes, special introductions by experts in the field, and is edited by a top modern Islamic scholar, respected in both the West and the Islamic world.

The tenets of Islam cannot be grasped without a proper understanding of the Qur'an. In this important new introduction, Muhammad Haleem examines its recurrent themes - life and eternity, marriage and divorce, peace and war, water and nourishment - and for the first time sets these in the context of the Qur'an's linguistic style. He examines the background to the development of the surahs and ayahs and the construction of the Qur'an itself.

Approaching the Qur'an presents brilliant translations of the short, hymnic chapters or Suras, associated with the first revelations to the Prophet Muhammad. These early Suras contain some of the most powerful, prophetic and revelatory passages in religious history, offering the vision of a meaningful and just life that anchors the faith of one fifth of the world's inhabitants.

This book provides detailed and multidisciplinary coverage of a wealth of key Qur’anic terms, with incisive entries on crucial expressions ranging from the divine names Allāh (“God”) and al-raḥmān (“the Merciful”) to the Qur’anic understanding of belief and self-surrender to God. It examines what the terms mean in Qur’anic usage, discusses how to translate them into English, and delineates the role they play in expressing the Qur’an’s distinctive worldview.

Hadith, as a common noun, simply means talk, conversation, but in the technical, religious sense it is used for the individual, reported sayings of the Prophet, his Companions, the first caliphs and other pious scholars of the early Islam. The present book contains 690 traditions, some three-quarters of them derived from al-Bukhart's Sahih.

The two 'authentic' ḥadīth collections of al-Bukhārī and Muslim are the most famous books in Islam after the Qur'ān. This book charts the origins, development and functions of these two texts and examines how they went from controversial to indispensable as they became the common language for discussing the Prophet's legacy.

Central to Islamic practice and law, the term hadith is applied to first-hand reports of the Prophet Muhammad's words and deeds, passed from generation to generation. Informative and accessible, this wide-ranging introduction provides a detailed exploration of hadith collection, historical authenticity and role in modern Islam. Complete with a glossary, extensive bibliography and helpful diagrams, the book is perfectly suited to students, scholars and the general reader.

The studies in this volume go beyond the question of the authenticity of Prophetic narrations, which has occupied the field of Hadith Studies for over a century. By approaching hadith narrations and literature from various perspectives, the authors seek to uncover the potential that hadith material has to better understand the intellectual and social history of Muslim societies.

A pathbreaking history of Sufism, from the earliest centuries of Islam to the present After centuries as the most important ascetic-mystical strand of Islam, Sufism saw a sharp decline in the 20th century, only to experience a stunning revival in recent decades. In this comprehensive new history of Sufism from the earliest centuries of Islam to today, Alexander Knysh reveals the tradition in all its richness.

Since their beginnings in the 9th century, the shrines, brotherhoods and doctrines of the Sufis held vast influence in almost every corner of the Muslim world. Offering the first truly global account of the history of Sufism, this illuminating book traces the gradual spread and influence of Sufi Islam through the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and ultimately into Europe and the United States.

The Dervishes of the North explores what practices associated with Rumi in public and private spaces tell us about Sufism and spirituality, including sacred, cultural and artistic expressions in the Canadian context. Using Rumi and contemporary expressions of poetry and whirling associated with him, the book captures the lived reality of Sufism through an ethnographic study of communities in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

The Sunni-Shi'i schism is often framed as a dispute over the identity of the successor to Muhammad, whereas in reality, Sunni and Shi'i Muslims also differ on a number of doctrines concerning the nature of God and legitimate political and religious authority. This book examines the development of Shi'i Islam through the lenses of belief, narrative and memory. It also covers a wide range of Shi'i communities from Twelvers to the transnational Isma'ilis.

For some twenty years the media have increased their coverage of Shi'ism. Never, or only rarely, do they formulate the question we ask here: What is Shi'ism? What is this belief that inspires millions of people dispersed throughout the world? This book provides a broad based introduction to Shi'i Islam. It examines what the Shi'i believe, how they see themselves and how they view the world.

The Making of Shia Ayatollahs offers both insider and outsider views of how a scholar becomes an Ayatollah in Shia Islam, how ayatollahs suggest diverse perspectives on faith, and how the grand ayatollahs are recognized by a balance of many factors including piety, scholarship, popularity and networking.

This book presents the first comprehensive survey of the multiple versions of Islam propagated across geographical, political and cultural boundaries during the era of modern globalization. Showing how Islam was transformed through these globalizing transfers, it traces the origins, expansion and increasing diversification of Global Islam - from individual activists to organizations and then states - over the past 150 years.

Students are encouraged to think beyond simple identifiers of "Muslim," "American," "Canadian" or "Mexican", and to consider how these identifiers exist in conversation with one another, and with others such as gender, class, race, sexuality and ability. Chapters take a multidisciplinary approach, and focus on the expressions of Islam in its diverse forms. Case studies include Islam in Cuba, the Black experience and the Hijab.

The Makings of Indonesian Islam presents Islamic and colonial history as an integrated whole, revealing the ways our understanding of Indonesian Islam, both past and present, came to be. Michael Laffan traces how the popular image of Indonesian Islam was shaped by encounters between colonial Dutch scholars and reformist Islamic thinkers and how Dutch religious preoccupations echoed Muslim concerns about the relationship between faith and the state.

Islam in India: History, Politics and Society is based on the historical and contemporary relevance of the religion and its related culture(s) in India. Besides being a major religious doctrine, Islam has been the main political ideology for many dynasties in India. This book argues that Islam in India ought to be seen not only as a political and religious ideology of the dynasties, but also as a significant force that shaped the cultural fabric of the country.

It is commonly claimed that Islam is antiblack, even inherently bent on enslaving Black Africans. Western and African critics alike have contended that antiblack racism is in the faith's very scriptural foundations and its traditions of law, spirituality and theology. But what is the basis for this accusation? Jonathan A.C. Brown examines Islamic scripture, law, Sufism and history to comprehensively interrogate this claim and determine how and why it emerged.