Religion Studies: Islam: Reference Works

Antoine Sfeir's Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism is a major resource. Translated for the first time from the original French, this volume features more than two thousand entries on the history of Islamism and Islamic countries. It provides a balanced account of events and organizations, as well as philosophers, activists, militants, and other prominent figures, and offers a window into a movement that has irrevocably changed both Muslim and Western societies. The dictionary includes entries on the roots of Islamism and jihad in Africa, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Morocco, the Balkans, and the United States, among many other countries and locations. It profiles such key individuals as Louis Farrakhan; Tariq Ramadan; Abu Hamza Al-Masri; Algeria's Hassan Hattab, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood; Egypt's Hassan Al-Banna; and the leader of the Afghan Jombesh-i Melli Islami movement, Abdul Rashid Dostum; historical events such as the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole and Syria's Hama massacre; organizations and religious movements such as the Taliban, Hezbollah, Hamas, Morocco's Justice and Development Party, and Iran's Association for the Defense of the Values of the Islamic Revolution; and groups including Tablighi Jamaat (the Society of the Message), the World Association for Muslim Youth, and Lebanon's Al-Ahbash. A unique aspect of this dictionary is its examination of this antimodern incarnation of Islam and its efforts to claim (or reclaim) Muslim society, families, and professional environments. The volume considers such questions as whether activist Islam is "terrorist" and if it can coexist with Western societies; whether terrorism can be justified by the Quran; and what are the components of an international Islam. Antoine Sfeir, internationally renowned for his scholarship and expertise on this subject, remains sensitive to the differences between Islam and Islamism and approaches the ideology from geopolitical, sociological, and historical standpoints.

Considered the most authoritative single-volume reference work on Islam in the contemporary world, the German-language Der Islam in der Gegenwart, currently in its fifth edition, offers a wealth of authoritative information on the religious, political, social, and cultural life of Islamic nations and of Islamic immigrant communities elsewhere. Now, Cornell University Press is making this invaluable resource accessible to English-language readers. More current than the latest German edition on which it is based, Islam in the World Today covers a comprehensive array of topics in concise essays by some of the world's leading experts on Islam, including: * the history of Islam from the earliest years through the twentieth century, with particular attention to Sunni and Shi'i Islam and Islamic revival movements during the last three centuries; * data on the advance of Islam along with current population statistics; * Muslim ideas on modern economics, on social order, and on attempts to modernize Islamic law (shari'a) and apply it in contemporary Muslim societies; * Islam in diaspora, especially the situation in Europe and America; * secularism, democracy, and human rights; and * women in Islam Twenty-four essays are each devoted to a specific Muslim country or a country with significant Muslim minorities, spanning Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union. Additional essays illuminate Islamic culture, exploring local traditions; the languages and dialects of Muslim peoples; and art, architecture, and literature. Detailed bibliographies and indexes ensure the book's usefulness as a reference work.

The New Encyclopedia of Islam is the only single-volume work in print which so comprehensively encompasses the beliefs, practices, history and culture of the Islamic world, in over 1300 entries. It has the further unique advantage of being written by a Western scholar of the Islamic faith, and has thus been already widely praised for straddling the cultures with an understanding and respect for the themes and topics covered. All aspects of religious belief, ritual, practices, prayer, significant political movements, spiritual and political leaders, art, architecture, sects, law, social institutions, history, ethnography, nations and states, languages, science, major cities and centers of learning are covered. Order outside North America, contact Stacey International Publishers, London --Worldwide coverage --Nearly 1300 accessible entries --Assumes no previous knowledge of Islam --24 pages of full-color photographs --16 pages of color maps, dynastic charts, and diagrams --The most comprehensive single-volume reference on Islam available --60 new or substantially revised entries from the last edition New or substantially revised entries in the 2001 edition: Abd al-Qadir, Amir Ahkam Ahmad of Rae Bareilly Alexander's Wall Albania Algerian Democratic Republic Ali Shir Nava'i Amir Khusraw Dihlawi Aqsaqalism Atabat Azad Bangladesh Barabanschiki Bareilly Barilwis Basmachis Beloshaposhniki Bosnia and Herzegovina Constitution of Medina Deoband Dsnmeh Dungan Elkhasaios Faraidi Movement Faramush Khaneh Fundamentalism Ghalib, Mirza Asad Allah Khan Hafiz Hamas Harrah Herat Ibn Masarrah Khaksars Ilyas Isfahan Istanbul JamaO Kalmuck Kazakhstan Khiva Khomeini Kirghiz Kubra, Najm ad-Din Kumun Kurds Lahore Lakhmids Mawardi Ossetians Ovliad Rabitah al-Islamiyyah Rudaki Russia de Sacy Sahmi-i Imam Tablighi JamaO aat Tajiks Taliban Turkmenistan Zikrism

Both a dictionary and a glossary of terms that attempts to cover the entire field of Islam. Also included are brief biographies of eminent Muslims and Islamic scholars throughout the ages, providing a ready reference to authorities normally cited.