Islamic Studies: Finding Books

An English translation of the Qur'an.

(E-Book). An English translation of the Qur'an.

Available in hardcover (2015) and paperback (2017).

This book discloses a largely unnoticed dialogue between Muslim and Western social thought on the search for meaning and transcendence in the human sciences. The disclosure is accomplished by a comparative reading of contemporary Muslim debates on secular knowledge on the one hand, and of a foundational Western debate on the demise of metaphysics in the human sciences on the other hand.

The collected poems of al-Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din al-Shirazi (1000-1078 CE).

A milestone in the English literature concerning Islam, A History of the Prophets of Islam is the fruit of nearly ten years of scholarly research. In Vol. 2 of this unique work, the Quranic narratives concerning such prophets as Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Samuel, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Dhul-Kifl, Jonah, Zechariah, John, Jesus and Muhammad are supplemented with relevant ahadith and the interpretations of classical and contemporary scholars.

Ibn Rushd's "Bidayat al-Mujtahid" ("The Distinguished Jurist's Primer") occupies a unique place among the authoritative manuals of Islamic law. It is designed to prepare the jurist for the task of the mujtahid, the independent jurist, who derives the law and lays down precedents to be followed by the judge in the administration of justice. In this manual Ibn Rushd traces most of the issues of Islamic law, describing not only what the law is, but also elaborating the methodology of some of the greatest legal minds in Islam to show how such laws were derived.

Islamic anthropology is relatively seldom treated as a particular concern even though much of the contemporary debate on the modernization of Islam, its acceptance of human rights and democracy, makes implicit assumptions about the way Muslims conceive of the human being. This book explores how the spread of evolutionary theory has affected the beliefs of contemporary Muslims regarding human identity, capacity and destiny.

Contemporary studies on Syria assume that the country's Ba'thist regime has been effective in subduing its Islamic opposition, placing Syria at odds with the Middle East's larger trends of rising Islamic activism and the eclipse of secular ideologies as the primary source of political activism. Yet this assumption founders when confronted with the clear resurgence in Islamic militantism in the country since 2004. This book examines Syria's current political reality as regards its Islamic movement, describing the country's present day Islamic groups - particularly their social profile and ideology - and offering an explanation of their resurgence. The analysis focuses on: Who are today's Syrian Islamic groups? Why and how are they re-emerging after 22 years of relative silence as an important socio-economic and political force? How is the Syrian state dealing with their re-emergence in light of Syria's secularism and ideologically diverse society? Bridging area studies, Islamic studies, and political science, this book will be an important reference for those working within the fields of Comparative Politics, Political Economy, and Middle Eastern Studies.