Islam Today: A Short Introduction to the Muslim World

內容簡介

Preface; 1 Introduction: Raising Questions; Islam and the West; Locating the key to unlock Muslim society; Misunderstanding Muslims; Questions for our age; 2 What is Islam?; The messenger: the Prophet of Islam; The Prophet's early life; The Prophet's marriage; The first words of the message; The journey across the desert: the hijra; The later marriages of the Prophet; The Prophet's last address; The role of the Prophet in Muslim social custom; Images of the Prophet; The Prophet of Islam and the people of the Book; The Prophet's critics; The message: the holy Quran. Understanding the Quran todayThe five pillars of lslam; The Islamic calendar; Sunni and Shia divisions in Islam; The Shia; Differences between Shias and Sunnis; The other Shia groups; Shiism in the Western media; Sufism: the Muslim universal way; 3 The Challenge of the Past: Empires and Dynasties; A Muslim view of history; Characteristics of the great Muslim empires; Early Muslim history: the great Arab dynasties; The Arabs carry the message of lslam to the world; Arab dynasties, Arab destinies; The Christian Crusades; The ideal model of European society: Muslim Spain. Muslim literature in SpainThe Andalus syndrome; The mosque at Cordoba; The fall of the Muslims; 1492 and all that; The reawakening of Andalusia; The Ottomans (1300-1922); The Topkapi palace; Women in the harem; Islam in the Topkapi; The Ottoman dynasty; The Safavids (1501-1722); Isfahan: Nisf-e-Jahan; The Shia state; The Mughals (1526-1857); The burden of history; The Mughal emperors; Babar, the founder of the Mughal dynasty; Mughal humanism; Muslim architecture in South Asia; Taj Mahal: monument of love; 4 When Worlds Collide: Muslim Nations and Western Modernity. The dilemmas of modern TurkeyThe rediscovery of the past; Kemal Ataturk; Islamic revivalism; Turkey's Kurds; Iran's Islamic quest; Palace versus shrine; The struggle for identity; Ayatollah Khomeini the scholar-activist; Islamic Iranian art; After the revolution; Khomeini's fatwa and Dante's Divine Comedy; India and the creation of Pakistan and Bangladesh; 1857 and the birth of Aligarh; Jinnah: The Quaid-i-Azam of Pakistan; Leading a Muslim movement; The Partition of India in 1947; The problem of identity; The first Muslim nuclear power; A school in Pakistan today. Pakistan and the birth of BangladeshIssues in modernity: democracy, family and identity; The Arab predicament; The creation of Israel; Tensions in Arab society; Problems of democracy; Democracy and double standards: the case of Algeria; The Taliban of Afghanistan; The centralized state; Islamic punishment; Class, corruption and communism; Rulers then and now; The Muslim family; Polygamy in Islam; Arranged marriages; Muslim women; Women in the modern world; Muslim dress and the hijab; 5 Muslims as Minorities; The 'problem' of Muslim minorities; The inexplicable fear of Muslim minorities.