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| Preface | p. xi |
| A General Introduction to Islam's Basic Teachings and Practices | p. 1 |
| Religion and Common Life in the Pre-Islamic Near East | p. 5 |
| Early Civilizations and the Origins of Judaism and Christianity | p. 7 |
| Egypt the Land | p. 7 |
| Mesopotamia the Land | p. 11 |
| The Origins of Judaism | p. 15 |
| Abraham | p. 15 |
| Moses | p. 18 |
| ... MORE | p. 19 |
| The Prophets | p. 20 |
| From Ancient Israelite Religion to Judaism | p. 22 |
| Awaiting God's Messiah | p. 23 |
| Jesus of Nazareth | p. 23 |
| Paul | p. 25 |
| Christianity | p. 26 |
| Christianity and Judaism | p. 27 |
| Pre-Islamic Arabia: Beliefs, Values, Way of Life | p. 32 |
| Pre-Islamic Arabia | p. 32 |
| Social Structure and Economy | p. 34 |
| Poetry | p. 39 |
| Pre-Islamic Religion | p. 40 |
| The Coming of Islam: The Prophet, His People, and God's Religion | p. 47 |
| Muhammad and the Early Muslim Community | p. 49 |
| Before Muhammad | p. 49 |
| Muhammad the Person | p. 50 |
| Muhammad the Prophet | p. 53 |
| The Qur'an | p. 55 |
| The First Muslims | p. 56 |
| The Development of Islam | p. 57 |
| The Qur'an's Divine Message | p. 61 |
| The Hijra | p. 63 |
| Muhammad's Later Life | p. 69 |
| Muhammad's Personal Life | p. 71 |
| The Arab Conquests and Islamic Rule: The Struggle for a Unified Umma | p. 74 |
| Muhammad's Heirs | p. 74 |
| The Muslims' Foreign Conquests | p. 75 |
| Early Muslim Governments and the Spread of the Umma | p. 78 |
| Two Approaches to Politics and Rule | p. 83 |
| The Spread of the Islamic Empire | p. 84 |
| The Abbasids | p. 87 |
| Other Muslim Peoples | p. 90 |
| Islam's Achievements | p. 94 |
| The Islamic Religious System | p. 97 |
| The Basic Beliefs and Worship Practices of Islam | p. 99 |
| The Five Doctrines of Islamic Faith | p. 99 |
| The Five Acts of Worship | p. 105 |
| Purification | p. 105 |
| Ritual Impurity | p. 107 |
| The Pillars of Islam | p. 110 |
| The Nature and Function of the Qur'an | p. 130 |
| Language, Format, and Chronology | p. 130 |
| Recitation and Ritual Observances | p. 134 |
| Contents and Nature of the Qur'an | p. 140 |
| Interpretation of the Qur'an | p. 142 |
| The "Inimitability" of the Qur'an | p. 146 |
| The Prophet's Sunna as Preserved in the Hadith | p. 150 |
| Muhammad and Scripture | p. 150 |
| The Form of the Had?th | p. 152 |
| Major Collections of Had?th | p. 156 |
| The Prophet's and His Companions' Sunnas | p. 159 |
| Muhammad as an Ideal Human | p. 160 |
| Muslim Creeds and Theologies: Their Purposes and Varieties | p. 164 |
| Theology | p. 164 |
| Islamic Theology | p. 166 |
| Theological Issues | p. 167 |
| The Place of Reason | p. 170 |
| The Mu'tazilite Rationalists | p. 171 |
| Mu'tazilite Thought | p. 173 |
| Three Muslim Creeds | p. 180 |
| Orthodox Kal?m and the Challenge of Philosophy | p. 184 |
| Law and the State in Classical Islamic Formulations | p. 187 |
| Islam as a Way of Life | p. 187 |
| The Shari'a and Fiqh | p. 187 |
| The Qur'an and the Law | p. 188 |
| The Legal Scholars | p. 191 |
| Schools of Law | p. 193 |
| The Five Principles | p. 194 |
| Sunni Law Schools | p. 195 |
| Shi'iLaw Schools | p. 197 |
| Islamic Political Institutions: Forms, Functions, and Theories | p. 198 |
| Islamic Law and the State in the Present Era | p. 207 |
| The Sufi Way of Mysticism and Fellowship | p. 209 |
| Islamic Mysticism and the Disciplines of Esoteric Piety | p. 211 |
| Sufism | p. 211 |
| Asceticism in Early Islamic Contexts | p. 217 |
| Sufi Symbolism | p. 221 |
| Sufism as an Esoteric Discipline: The Tariqa or Way | p. 223 |
| Al-Junayd and Sober Sufism | p. 225 |
| Antinomian Sufism | p. 227 |
| Intoxicated Sufism; Al-Hallaj | p. 228 |
| States and Stations | p. 231 |
| Al-Ghazadli and the Reconciliation of Shari'aand Tariqa | p. 232 |
| Masters and Disciples: The Forms and Functions of Sufi Orders | p. 238 |
| The Rise of Sufi Orders | p. 238 |
| Shaykhs and Faqirs: The Master-Disciple Relationship | p. 239 |
| The Qadiri Order: Islam's Major International Sufi Brotherhood | p. 240 |
| Other Classic Sufi Orders | p. 242 |
| Jalal al-Din al-Rumi and the Mawlawis | p. 246 |
| Rumi's Poetry | p. 248 |
| The Silsila or Spiritual Lineage | p. 251 |
| Dhikr and Sama': Remembrance and the Spiritual Concert | p. 252 |
| Sufi Theosophy: The Thought of Ibn 'Arabi | p. 256 |
| Patterns of Islamic Personal and Communal Life | p. 261 |
| The Islamic Life Cycle and the Family | p. 263 |
| Islamic Domestic Rites, Ceremonies, and Customs | p. 263 |
| Rites of Infancy and Childhood | p. 264 |
| Marriage (Nikah) | p. 268 |
| Divorce (Talaq) | p. 273 |
| Inheritance | p. 274 |
| Property | p. 275 |
| Interest | p. 275 |
| Family Life | p. 276 |
| Food and Eating Habits | p. 278 |
| Clothing, Ornamentation, and Toilet | p. 280 |
| Death Rituals | p. 282 |
| Mourning Customs | p. 285 |
| Ideals and Realities of Islamic Community Life | p. 289 |
| The Closeness of the Community | p. 289 |
| The Mosque | p. 290 |
| The Marketplace | p. 293 |
| Public Behavior | p. 294 |
| Recreation | p. 297 |
| Official Islam | p. 299 |
| Popular Islam | p. 301 |
| The Veneration of Saints | p. 301 |
| Distinctive Shi'i Ritual Practices | p. 307 |
| Islam in the Modern World | p. 313 |
| Major Movements and Trends in Renewal and Reform | p. 315 |
| Three Phases of Islamic History | p. 315 |
| TheWahhabis | p. 318 |
| Other Reform Movements | p. 321 |
| Some Modernist Thinkers | p. 324 |
| Islam and Nationalism | p. 330 |
| Three Forms of Islamic Revival: "Fundamentalism," Feminism, and Establishing the Umma in North America | p. 341 |
| Fundamentalism | p. 342 |
| Islam and the Status of Women | p. 348 |
| Islam and Muslims in North America | p. 352 |
| Whither Islam and the Muslims? Progressive Muslims with a Vision of an "Islam without Borders" | p. 365 |
| Westoxication | p. 366 |
| Modernity and Westernization in the Post 9/11 World | p. 367 |
| Progressive Muslims | p. 371 |
| Progressive Assertiveness | p. 373 |
| An Iranian Shi'ite Muslim's Voice in Human Rights and Rational Discourse | p. 374 |
| Muslim Women Scholar-Activists | p. 377 |
| Conclusion | p. 380 |
| Suggestions for Further Reading | p. 383 |
| Glossary | p. 402 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 410 |
| Index | p. 412 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |