Muslim History

Though it is the fastest growing religion in the world, Islam remains shrouded by ignorance and fear. What is the essence of this ancient faith? Is it a religion of peace or war? How does Allah differ from the God of Jews and Christians? Can an Islamic state be founded on democratic values such as pluralism and human rights? A writer and scholar of comparative religions, Reza Aslan has earned international acclaim for the passion and clarity he has brought to these questions.

In 2013, just two years after the popular overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian military ousted the country's first democratically elected president - Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood - and subsequently led a brutal repression of the Islamist group. These bloody events echoed an older political rift: the splitting of nationalists and Islamists during the rule of Egyptian president and Arab nationalist leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. Fawaz Gerges, one of the world's leading authorities on the Middle East, tells how the clash between pan-Arab nationalism and pan-Islamism has shaped the history of the region.

Violent extremist Sunni and Shiite Muslims are at odds about most things. One of the few points that they can agree upon in the midst of their war of mutual annihilation is that the Apocalypse is coming and that they are the soldiers of its harbinger and redeemer: the Mahdi. Across the Islamic world, the figure of the Mahdi has appeared with increasing prevalence in the last few decades.

In this book, 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 deep into Islamic theology, and also sharing lessons from his own life story, he reveals how Muslims lost the universalism that made them a great civilization in their earlier centuries.

In the fall of 1928, the Imam of Java, a certain Mohammad Basyuni Imran, had a letter delivered to the Lebanese author and scholar, Shakib Arsalan. In his letter, Basyuni Imran requested Arsalan to explain the reasons for the backwardness of Muslims of the time compared to other nations. Furthermore, Basyuni asked Arsalan to suggest what they need to do to join the ranks of nations that have overtaken them and, in many cases, rule over them.

The objectives of this book are to: Present an accurate portrayal of 'Allah,' the deity of Islam Evaluate whether any claimed evidence of Allah's existence holds merit Expose the genuine nature of Mohamed Highlight that the Quran is not divine but rather contains errors, myths, and moral teachings that have been appropriated Illustrate that Sharia Law stands as the most intrusive and restrictive legal system globally, particularly concerning women.

Jesus introduced himself as a prophet of Islam and the awaited Messiah. Like the many Muslim prophets before him, his core message was to call people to worship God. He also tried to reform the practice of Judaism which had been corrupted over the centuries and brought the good news about the coming of Prophet Muhammad. Jesus spoke about one God. He never taught that he or anybody else was or could be divine. He even called himself “son of man” to pre-empt the attempts to make him divine after him. It was Paul who started and promoted the concept that Jesus was man and god. He put Jesus...

This absorbing account of the political and social reformations that transformed the lands of Islam during the 19th and early 20th centuries offers a game-changing assessment of the Middle East. Beginning his account in 1798, de Bellaigue demonstrates how the Middle East has long welcomed modern ideals and practices, including the adoption of modern medicine, the emergence of women from seclusion, and the development of democracy.

Enjoy the E-book version of this book! We look at some of the lesser known warriors in Islam over the years. What makes them worth mentioning and how we can implement the qualities they held into our modern day lives!

The Moors are well-known for their presence on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages and for the conflicts they fought in Europe, but the term Moor is a historical rather than an ethnic name. It is an invention of European Christians for the Islamic inhabitants of Maghreb (North Africa), Andalusia (Spain), Sicily, and Malta, and it was sometimes used to designate all Muslims.

"Ideas are dangerous things. They are like drops of acid burning away our comforting certainties, making holes in the fabric of our cherished beliefs." This often surprising collection of incendiary essays takes the reader on an intellectual journey through the myths of mass culture. It takes a piercing look at such diverse subjects as money, suicide, self-pity, art, beauty, ugliness, religion and the nature of evil and power in its various forms. It explores such questions as: is an afterlife possible? How much freedom is enough? What are celebrities for? Are the old really human? All of ...

Servants of Allah presents a history of African Muslims, following them from West Africa to the Americas. Although many assume that what Muslim faith they brought with them to the Americas was quickly absorbed into the new Christian milieu, as Sylviane A. Diouf demonstrates in this meticulously researched, groundbreaking volume, Islam flourished during slavery on a large scale.

Michael Wolffsohn setzt sich, ausgehend von der aktuellen Politik, in seinem neuen Buch mit dem Verhältnis von Judentum, Christentum und Islam–gestern, heute und morgen–auseinander. In gewohnt pointierter Weise zieht er dazu Geschichte und Theologie heran. Seine illusionslosen und dennoch teils humorvollen und immer messerscharfen Analysen gelten insbesondere Terror, Krieg und Gewalt. Seine große mediale Präsenz als Talkshowgast, Interviewpartner und Publizist erklärt sich durch seine Fähigkeit zu faktengesättigten und allgemeinverständlichen Statements, die auch dieses Buch prägen.

The Princess and the Prophet tells the story of the Black Broadway performer who, among the world of Arabian acrobats and equestrians, Muslim fakirs, and Wild West shows, discovered in Islam a greater measure of freedom and dignity, and a rebuttal to the racism and parochialism of white America.

In Innocent Until Proven Muslim, scholar and organizer Dr.Maha Hilal tells the powerful story of two decades of the War on Terror, exploring how the official narrative has justified the creation of a sprawling apparatus of state violence rooted in Islamophobia and excused its worst abuses.

Using his unique lens as a critical race theorist and law professor, Khaled A. Beydoun captures the many ways in which law, policy, and official state rhetoric have fueled the frightening resurgence of Islamophobia in the US.

Historical cozy mystery: When three strangers visited Qurtuba, the western limit of ninth-century civilization, they brought tales of buried treasure. The ensuing treasure hunt shook the peaceful capital of the Umayyad dynasty with murder. Bhaja and Pai searched to uncover the mysteries of the murders that reached back decades, meanwhile discovering through dreams and visions their timeless love that began millennia ago. This Islamic golden age was a period of tolerance with a focus on education, but the people who lived there still experienced jealousy, pride, greed, and love.

Exploring the birth period of Islam, this biography focuses on one of the most prominent and respected Muslim women in history: Khadija, the wife of the Prophet Muhammad.

This accessible history, the first of two volumes, tells the story of the birth and expansion of the Fatimid Empire in the 10th century. Drawing upon recently available eyewitness accounts, Shainool Jiwa introduces the first four generations of Fatimid Imam-caliphs as well as the people who served them and those they struggled against. In this lively and comprehensive introduction, we discover various milestones in Fatimid history and the political and cultural achievements that continue to resonate today.

As the global war on terror enters its second decade, the United States military is engaged with militant Islamic insurgents on multiple fronts. But the post-9/11 war against terrorists is not the first time the United States has battled such ferocious foes. The forgotten Moro War, lasting from 1902 to 1913 in the islands of the southern Philippines, was the first confrontation between American soldiers and their allies and a determined Muslim insurgency.