Preface
and Acknowledgements
1. What is Islam?
2. The Origins of Islam
Arabia
The Life of Muhammad
The Meccan Background
The Rebuilding of the Ka‘ba• The Vision
Medina
The Constitution of Medina
Development at Medina
Muhammad the Man
Muhammad – Religious and Political Leader
3. The Qur’an and Shari‘a
The Primacy of God
Hadith
The Shari‘a
The Law Schools
A Code to Live By
Western Attitudes to the Shari‘a
4. Islamic History Schism
Umayyads
Muslim Spain
Spanish Decline
The East
‘Abbasids
The Crusades
The Mongols
The Mamluks
The Ottomans
The Mughal Empire
5. Early Theological Disputes
The Mu‘tazilites
Al-Ash‘ari
Al-Ghazali
Sufism
6. Islamic Culture
Science
7. The Nature of the Human Being in Islamic Thought
8. The Five Pillars of Islam
The First Pillar: the declaration of faith (shahada)
The Second Pillar: prayer (salat)
The Third Pillar: almsgiving (zakat)
The Fourth Pillar: fasting (sawm)
The Meaning Behind Ramadan
The Fifth Pillar: pilgrimage (hajj)
9. The Human Being in the Social Setting Family Life
Marriage in Practice
Divorce
Women
Children
Education
Diet
Death
The Mosque
10. Islamic Economics Riba
Investment and Consumption
The State
Practical Problems for Muslim Economics
11. Muslims in the World Today
Britain
The United States
Similarities Between Muslims in Britain and the United States
Western Perceptions of Islam
The Western Perception of the Islamization Programme of the
Sudan
The Iranian Revolution
Ayatollah Khomeini
12. Political Islam
Divisions
13. Islam in the Twenty-First Century
Palestine
The Status of Women in the Contemporary Muslim World
The Future
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
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