With resurgent interest in the Muslim world and in particular political Islam, this collection of translated essays by major Muslim thinkers from the Middle East and South Asia demonstrates the ongoing and contentious debate between modernizers seeking to adapt Western ways and fundamentalists who rejected them. From Jamal al-Din al-Afghani in the nineteenth-century to Ayatollah Khomeini in the twentieth, the selections provide an opportunity to examine a diversity of Muslim thinkers thoughts on important topics like jurisprudence, politics, relations with the west, and women in their own words.
'Provides an excellent source of the major issues that have engaged Muslim intellectuals for over a century as they attempted to grapple with the challenges of Western hegemony and modernity.' - Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Georgetown University
'This superbly chosen volume provides the best possible way for outsiders to gain authentic insights into modern Islam - to listen as leading Muslim scholars debate the serious issues facing their faith.' - Rodney Stark, Professor of Sociology and Comparative Religion, University of Washington
'This superbly chosen volume provides the best possible way for outsiders to gain authentic insights into modern Islam - to listen as leading Muslim scholars debate the serious issues facing their faith.' - Rodney Stark, Professor of Sociology and Comparative Religion, University of Washington