A concise new narrative history of Islam that draws on the transformative insights of recent research to emphasize the diversity and dynamism of the tradition. Today's Muslim world is in upheaval: legalists and mystics engage in intense debates, radical groups invoke Sharia, Muslim immigrants in the West face prejudice and discrimination, and Muslim feminists advocate new interpretations of the Koran. At the same time, Islam is mischaracterized as unitary and unchanging by people ranging from right-wing Western politicians claiming that Islam is incompatible with democracy to conservative Muslims dreaming of returning to the golden age of the prophet. Against this contentious backdrop, this book provides an essential and timely new history of the religion in all its astonishing richness and diversity as it has been practiced by Muslims around the world, from seventh-century Mecca to today. Most popular histories of Islam continue to repeat conventional pietistic accounts. In contrast, John Tolan draws on decades of new historical research that has transformed knowledge of the origins and development of the Muslim faith. He shows how the youngest of the three great monotheisms arose in close contact with Jewish, Christian, and other religious traditions in a mixture of cultures, including Arab, Greek, Persian, and Turkish; how Islam spread across an enormous territory encompassing hundreds of languages and cultures; how Muslims have forged widely different beliefs and practices over fourteen centuries; and how Islamic history provides crucial context for understanding contemporary debates in the Muslim world. At a time when much talk about Islam is filled with misunderstanding, stereotypes, and bias, this book provides a fresh and lucid portrait of the continuous and ongoing transformations of a religion of tremendous variety and complexity.

Over the last thirty years, humanity has discovered thousands of planets outside of our solar system. The discovery of extraterrestrial life could be imminent. This book explains how such a discovery might impact Islamic theology. It is the foundational reference on the subject, comprising a variety of different insights from both Sunni and Shi'i positions, from different Muslim contexts, and with chapters that compare and contrast Islamic perspectives with Confucianism and Christianity. Together, they address some of our biggest questions through an Islamic lens: What makes humans unique in the cosmos? What are the ethics of dealing with other sentient beings? And how universal is salvation? Given the accelerating advances in exoplanet research and astrobiology, the book is at the frontier of science and Islamic thought. Contributors include a range of leading experts from Muslim theologians, scholars of comparative religion and philosophers, to historians, social scientists and natural scientists.

Oneness (Tawhid) is not merely the gateway into Islam but also its profoundest core. It begins with the recognition of God as the sole object of worship and extends to permeate every facet of existence. Among the earliest and most comprehensive works on this subject is Kitab al-Tawhid by Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (d. 333/944), a foundational text that explores the far-reaching implications of tawhid across all dimensions of life.Al-Maturidi holds a central place in Islamic thought, primarily as the namesake of one of the two major schools of Sunni theology (kalam). The Maturidi tradition represents the theological expression of the ¿anafi school—one of the oldest and most widely followed schools of law and ethics in the Muslim world. Yet, al-Maturidi's importance goes beyond his eponymous legacy. His thought is marked by philosophical depth, theological precision, and a systemic coherence that places him among the foremost theologians and philosophers of religion in the Islamic tradition.An English translation of Kitab al-Tawhid is not only a vital contribution to the academic field of Islamic studies but also a service to the global Muslim community (umma) and the broader realm of world literature.

rom the lived theology of grandmothers to traditions of scholarship, from ancient liturgies to contemporary resistance, eight Palestinian Christian theologians offer a crucial and vibrant perspective on liberation, reconciliation, and divine imagination. Written within the heart of suffering, the cross and the olive tree interpret each other in an unwavering hope, symbols of faith and homeland.John Munayer is a Palestinian theologian from Jerusalem and holds degrees from King’s College London, the University of Edinburgh, and VU University Amsterdam. John is currently involved in interreligious activism and is the founder and editor of the Journal of Palestinian Christianity at the Bethlehem Bible College. He is a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh, researching the political theology of the Palestinian laity in relation to the Holy Fire ceremony. Samuel Munayer is a Palestinian theologian from Jerusalem and holds degrees from Durham University and Exeter University. Samuel works as an advocacy and access officer for a humanitarian organization that works in Gaza and the West Bank. He recently co-authored with John the article entitled, “Decolonising Palestinian Liberation Theology: New Methods, Sources, and Voices.”.

From the late Roman Empire onwards, monasteries and convents were a common sight throughout Europe. But who were monasteries for? What kind of people founded and maintained them? And how did monasticism change over the thousand years or so of the Middle Ages? Andrew Jotischky traces the history of monastic life from its origins in the fourth century to the sixteenth. He shows how religious houses sheltered the poor and elderly, cared for the sick, and educated the young. They were centres of intellectual life that owned property and exercised power but also gave rise to new developments in theology, music, and art. This book brings together the Orthodox and western stories, as well as the experiences of women, to show the full picture of medieval monasticism for the first time. It is a fascinating, wide-ranging account that broadens our understanding of life in holy orders as never before.

Twelver or Imami Shi'i Islam has long been understood through the concepts of the authority of jurists and political theology. However, building upon recent scholarship in the fields of Religious Studies and Anthropology, this book argues that Imami Shi'ism is better understood as a discursive tradition, and that from the late Abbasid to the post-Ilkhanid period, Hillah, in southern Iraq, was a center of scholarship, debate and exchange, challenging the traditionally authoritarian view of the development of Shi'i Islam's largest sect. Aun Hasan Ali applies the techniques of social network analysis to bio-bibliographical sources to reveal the school of Hillah as a formative period where outstanding and landmark works were written in practically every field of classical Islamic scholarship. He uses state-of-the-art electronic databases to study the transmission of knowledge and networks of kinship, learning, and patronage to show the way that the school was socially, politically and historically embodied, covering over 200 individuals and their writings. In the process, he reveals the way that Imami Shi'ism emerged in a historically specific and interfaith dynamic, becoming a discursive tradition unified and sustained by disagreement and an awareness of its minority status.

The Salafi movement invokes fear and dread in outsiders who treat Salafism as synonymous with religious extremism. For Salafis themselves, it's a jealously guarded title, always in danger of dilution. Salafism has changed the face of Islam; its ideas reach far outside its own ranks. Yet popular portrayals never go beyond hackneyed stereotypes. In Understanding Salafism, Dr Yasir Qadhi delves into the origins of the movement, from the earliest debates in Islam to Salafism today, in both the Western and Islamic worlds. In an analysis covering Salafism in the Middle East, Europe, the United States and Africa, he illuminates Salafism's theological ideas, the debates within Salafism about political participation, and its relationship to other schools in Sunni Islam.