Islamic popular preachers and storytellers had enormous influence in defining common religious knowledge and faith in the medieval Near East. Jonathan Berkey’s book illuminates the popular culture of religious storytelling. It draws on chronicles, biographical dictionaries, sermons, and tales — but especially on a number of medieval treatises critical of popular preachers, and also a vigorous defense of them which emerged in fourteenth-century Egyptian Sufi circles.Popular preacher...

A twentieth-anniversary edition of the fascinating, accessible introduction to Islam with a new preface and study guide, from the #1 bestselling author of ZealotFINALIST FOR THE GUARDIAN FIRST BOOK AWARD“Wise and passionate . . . an incisive, scholarly primer in Muslim history and an engaging personal exploration.” —The New York Times Book ReviewTwo decades after its original publication, ...

Engaging, accessible, and thought-provoking, No god but God is a persuasive, elegantly written, and accessible introduction for young readers to a faith that for much of the West remains shrouded in ignorance and fear.Adapted for young readers from No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, this exploration of Islam by Reza Aslan, internationally acclaimed scholar of comparative religion, delves into the rituals and traditions of...

In the late twentieth century, fundamentalism has emerged as one of the most powerful forces at work in the world, contesting the dominance of modern secular values and threatening peace and harmony around the globe. Yet it remains incomprehensible to a large number of people. In The Battle for God, Karen Armstrong brilliantly and sympathetically shows us how and why fundamentalist groups came into existence and what they yearn to accomplish.We see the West in the ...

“A very persuasive argument for the best way to counter jihadism” (The Washington Post) from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Zealot and host of Believer“[A] thoughtful analysis of America’s War on Terror.”—The New YorkerThe wars in the Middle East have become religious wars in which God is believed to be directly engaged on behalf of one side against the other. The hijackers who attac...

"[A] must-read by one of the most thought-provoking writers on Islam and the Middle East." —#1 New York Times –Bestselling Author Reza AslanWhat if Islam never existed? To some, it's a comforting thought: no clash of civilizations, no holy wars, no terrorists. But what if that weren't the case at all?In A World Without Islam, Graham E. Fuller, a former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council at...

Islam features widely in the news, often in its most militant versions, but few people in the non-Muslim world really understand the nature of Islam. Malise Ruthven's Very Short Introduction contains essential insights into issues such as why Islam has such major divisions between movements such as the Shi'ites, the Sunnis, and the Wahhabis, and the central importance of the Shar'ia (Islamic law) in Islamic life. It also offers fresh perspectives on contemporary questions: Why is ...

A provocative manifesto for an interpretation of Islam that synthesizes liberal ideas and respect for the Islamic tradition.From furious reactions to the cartoons of Prophet Muhammad to the suppression of women, news from the Muslim world begs the question: is Islam incompatible with freedom? With an eye sympathetic to Western liberalism and Islamic theology, Mustafa Akyol traces the ideological and historical roots of political Islam. The years following Muhammad's passing in 632 ...

From Miroslav Volf, one of the world's foremost Christian theologians—and co-teacher, along with Tony Blair, of a groundbreaking Yale University course on faith and globalization—comes Allah, a timely and provocative argument for a new pluralism between Muslims and Christians.In a penetrating exploration of every side of the issue, from New York Times headlines on terrorism to passages in the Koran and excerpts from the Gospels, Volf makes an unprecedented argument...

America’s leading religious scholar and public intellectual introduces lay readers to the Qur’an with a measured, powerful reading of the ancient textGarry Wills has spent a lifetime thinking and writing about Christianity. In What the Qur’an Meant, Wills invites readers to join him as he embarks on a timely and necessary reconsideration of the Qur’an, leading us through perplexing passages with insight and erudition. What does the Qur’an actually say abou...

"One of the greatest authorities on medieval Islam" sheds "immensely stimulating" new light on cross-cultural relations in the Middle Ages ( Times Literary Supplement, UK).In Jews, Christians, and the Abode of Islam, historian Jacob Lassner examines the relationship between the three Abrahamic faiths that defined their political and cultural interaction during the Middle Ages—and continues to define them today. Examining the debates taking place i...

A fascinating journey into Islam's diverse history of ideas, making an argument for an "Islamic Enlightenment" todayIn Reopening Muslim Minds, Mustafa Akyol, senior fellow at the Cato Institute and opinion writer for The New York Times, both diagnoses "the crisis of Islam" in the modern world, and offers a way forward. Diving deeply into Islamic theology, and also sharing lessons from his own life story, he reveals how Muslims lost the universalism...