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| AGAINST ISLAMOPHOBIA : Muslim Communities, Social Exclusion & the Lisbon Process in Europe [Arno Tausch, Christian Bischof, Tomaz Kastrun & Karl Mueller] While there is a never-ending debate on Islamism, Islamist terrorism and the identity of Europe vis-à-vis growing Muslim communities in Europe, there are hardly any solid cross-national data being presented on the real extent of the Islamist threat facing Europe, and on the social conditions that lead to Islamist radicalism. By and large, our rigorous quantitative results, based on the first systematic use of the Muslim community data contained in the 'European Social Survey' (ESS) all support a socio-liberal view of "migration" and "integration", compatible with much of the rest of current European political economic thinking regarding the future alternatives for the European Union, and contradict the very extended current alarmist political discourse in Western Europe. { 150pp, 180x260mm, August 2007; HB, £39.50, 1600215351:9781600215353 / HB, £52.99, 160021536X:9781600215360 , Nova Science Publishers } |
| APPROACHING THE QUR'AN, 2ND EDITION : The Early Revelations [Michael Sells] Book & CD. Approaching the Qur'án is a major event in religious publishing. Professor Michael Sells has captured the complexity, power, and poetry of the early suras of the Qur'án, the sacred scripture of Islam. Approaching the Qur'án presents brilliant translations of the short, hymnic chapters, or suras, associated with the first revelations to the Prophet Muhammad. Most of these early revelations appear at the end of the written text and are commonly reached only by the most resolute reader of existing English translations. These suras contain some of the most powerful prophetic and revelatory passages in religious history. They offer the vision of a meaningful and just life that anchors the religion of one-fifth of the world's inhabitants. Approaching the Qur'án is enriched by the inclusion of a compact disc recording of Quranic reciters chanting several of the early suras, allowing readers an opportunity to hear the Qur'án in its original form. The book includes Sells' 'Introduction to the Qur'án', commentaries of the suras, a glossary of technical terms, and chapters discussing the sound nature and gender aspects of the Arabic text REVIEW: "Michael Sells is to be congratulated for making a major contribution to religious literature with Approaching the Qur’an, the best version of Muslim scriptures available in English. This is an important and illuminating work, one that will be welcomed by scholars, students, believers, and all who seek to better understand Islam and its sacred scripture." -- Carl Ernst is professor of Islamic studies at the University of North Carolina and author of The Shambhala Guide to Sufism { 236pp, 155x230mm, January 2007; PB, £15.50, 1883991692:9781883991692 , Caveat Press (White Cloud Press) } |
| CLASSICAL ARABIC PHILOSOPHY : An Anthology of Sources [Edited & Translated by Jon McGinnis & David C Reisman] This volume introduces the major classical Arabic philosophers through substantial selections from the key works (many of which appear in translation for the first time here) in each of the fields -- including logic, philosophy of science, natural philosophy, metaphysics, ethics, and politics -- to which they made significant contributions. An extensive Introduction situating the works within their historical, cultural, and philosophical contexts offers support to students approaching the subject for the first time, as well as to instructors with little or no formal training in Arabic thought. A glossary, select bibliography, and index are also included. REVIEW: "This book will make a major impact on the study, and especially the teaching, of Arabic philosophy. A major difficulty with this field has been the lack of any adequate textbook of sources... Reisman and McGinnis not only provide here a rich selection of texts that could be the basis for even a full-year course on Arabic thought, but also manage to translate several important works for the first time; they also include some standards that would probably be missed were they not here. It will no doubt become the standard anthology used in courses on Arabic philosophy, and I will use it this way myself. The team of McGinnis and Reisman is an ideal one... All in all, this project is to be greeted with immense enthusiasm." -- Peter Adamson, King's College London. "This is a very fine, well conceived collection of philosophical materials that display the intellectual rigor, power, and insights of the thinkers of the Arabic tradition... The Introduction is written at a level appropriate for undergraduates and graduate students... Teachers not expert in the area will find it valuable as a guide for their students... far superior to anything currently available. It is suitable for adoption not only for courses in Arabic philosophy but also for any general courses in medieval philosophy." -- Richard C Taylor, Marquette University. { 426pp, 155x230mm, October 2007; PB, £19.95, 0872208710:9780872208711 , Hackett Publishing } |
| CONVERSION TO ISLAM [Nehemia Levtzion (ed)] Across the barriers of climate and culture in Asia and Africa, Islam has won converts and has been adopted by entire ethnic groups. From its dramatic emergence in the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century to its spread across Africa in modern times, Islam has had a major impact on all forms of life. The essays in the volume span 13 centuries of Islam history. The important distinctions between conversion through military conquest and that through social and political action are discussed together with Islam's role its encounter with other religions. { 272pp, 160x235mm, January 1989; HB, £29.95, 0841903433:9780841903432 , Holmes & Meier Publishers Inc } |
| CRYPTO-JEWISH MASHHADIS : The Shaping of Religious & Communal Identity in their Journey from Iran to New York [Hilda Nissimi] This book tells the little-known story of a fascinating crypto-Jewish community through two centuries and three continents. Beginning as a precarious settlement of a few families in mid-eighteenth-century Mashhad, an Islamic holy city in northern Iran, the community grew into a closely-knit group in response to their forced conversion to Islam in 1839. Muslim hostility and a culture of memory sustained by intra-communal marriages reinforced their separate religious identity, vesting it in strong family and communal loyalty. Mashhadi women became the main agents of the cultural transmission of communal identity and achieved social roles and high status uncharacteristic for contemporary Jewish and Muslim communities. The Mashhadis maintained a double identity -- upholding Islam in public while tenaciously holding onto their Jewish identity in secret. The exodus from Mashhad after 1946 relocated the communal centre to Tehran, and later to Israel and after the Khomeini revolution to New York. The relationship between the formation and retention of communal identity and memory practices -- with interconnected issues of religion and gender -- draws upon existing research on other crypto-faith communities, such as the Judeoconversos, the Moriscos, and the French Protestants, who through the special blend of memory-faith and ethnicity emerged strengthened from their underground period. For the immigration period, the author challenges the old paradigm that “modernity and religion are mutually exclusive”. The book also explores the sometimes uncomfortable yet intimate relationships that exist between seemingly incompatible ways of seeing the past, both secular and religious. { 180pp, 152x229mm, December 2006; HB, £55.00, 1845191609:9781845191603 , Sussex Academic Press } |
| DAILY LIFE IN THE MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC WORLD ((Daily Life Through History Series)) [James Lindsay] Every aspect of life in complex historical eras -- cultural, social, religious, political -- is here described and explained in a clear, accessible way, with copious details on such day-to-day activities as cooking, games, dress, and parenting. { 304pp, October 2008; PB, £10.95, 0872209342:9780872209343 , Hackett Publishing } |
| DAY OF ISLAM : The Annihilation of America & the Western World [Paul L Williams PhD] In two previous books, "Osama's Revenge" and "The Al Qaeda Connection", seasoned investigative reporter Paul Williams revealed the alarming potential for nuclear terrorism on U.S. soil and the sinister connections among organised crime, illegal immigrants, and al Qaeda. Now, Williams broadens his focus beyond al Qaeda to provide readers with newly uncovered information on terrorist activities in Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, other Muslim countries--and our neighbour Canada! What emerges is a harrowing picture of international terrorist activities, all aimed at the destruction of the United States and the collapse of the Western world. This cataclysm will usher in "the Day of Islam," the dream of radical Muslims to see all of humankind fall in submission before the throne of Allah. Based on the "forgotten testimony" of the FBI's "Confidential Source One," as well as other sources, Williams first presents evidence of Osama Bin Laden's purchase of highly enriched uranium in Sudan and nuclear devices from the Chechens and the Russian Mafia. He then offers further information on the workings of Pakistani scientists and technicians from the A. Q. Khan Research Facility to maintain and upgrade Al Qaeda's "bespoke nukes" (with explosive yields in excess of ten kilotons) for the "American Hiroshima". This information comes with empirical proof that should dispel any doubts that these weapons not only have been developed but have also been forward-deployed from the seaport at Karachi to strategic locations within the Western world. Keeping the focus on Pakistan, he predicts a nightmarish scenario if President Pervez Musharref should be overthrown and his arsenal of sixty-eight nuclear weapons falls into the hands of radical mullahs. Williams also examines the role of the Iranians both in sponsoring terrorism and in planning the American Hiroshima. In addition, he uncovers many unreported and startling accounts of the terrorist activities of Hezbollah in America and presents evidence that the marriage between Hezbollah and al Qaeda has been consummated. Finally, he presents intelligence showing that grave threats to America come, not from just our southern border, but from Canada and its amazingly open policies regarding radical Islam. The greatest threat of all, he concludes, comes from within --not only from the radical mosques within every major American city but also the Islamic paramilitary compounds in rural areas throughout the country, including Islamberg in New York State, where new recruits are trained for the great jihad against the United States under the very nose of FBI and Homeland Security officials. Sure to be controversial, this shocking exposé sends a wake-up to Americans lulled into a false sense of security in the post-9/11 era. { 288pp, 155x230mm, May 2007; HB, £16.99, 1591025087:9781591025085 , Prometheus Books } |
| EUNUCHS, CALIPHS & SULTANS : A Study of Power Relationships [David Ayalon] The book covers a period from the beginning of Islam, up to the beginning of the sixteenth century, and deals mainly with the eunuchs in the major centres of Islam in the East (Umayyads, 'Abbasids, Seljuks, Zengids, Ayyubids and Mamluks and to some extent, the Fatimids of Egypt). It is not a history of the eunuchs in that wide area but rather is mainly concerned with the power accumulated by the eunuchs, military, socially and even economically (especially as trustees of financial affairs and property). The ultimate aim of the study is to being out the close ties connecting it to the harem, the eunuchs and the Mamlkus. In all of these three areas, the dominant element had been slaves (Islamised and often enfranchised) who were imported beyond the lands of Islam. The eunuchs were usually the upbringers of the young Mamlkus and quite often their commanders. The Mamlkus themselves, in various and changing forms, constituted the mainstay of Islam to the harem, the eunuchs and the Mamluks. In all of these three areas, the dominant element had been slaves (Islamised and often enfranchised) who were imported beyond the lands of Islam. The eunuchs were usually the upbringers of the young Mamluks and quite often their commanders. The Mamluks themselves, in various and changing forms, constituted the mainstay of Islam’s military might through the greatest part of its existence. Other subjects discusses are castration’s, the eunuchs prices, and their so-called sexual life, romances as a well as their marriages. { 376pp, 160x235mm, January 1999; HB, £34.99, 965493017X:9789654930178 , Hebrew University Magnes Press } |
| ILLUSION OF HARMONY : Science & Religion in Islam [Taner Edis] Current discussions in the West on the relation of science and religion focus mainly on science’s uneasy relationship with the traditional Judeo-Christian view of life. But a parallel controversy exists in the Muslim world regarding ways to integrate science with Islam. As physicist Taner Edis shows in this fascinating glimpse into contemporary Muslim culture, a good deal of popular writing in Muslim societies attempts to address such perplexing questions as: Is Islam a "scientific religion"?; Were the discoveries of modern science foreshadowed in the Quran?; Are intelligent design conjectures more appealing to the Muslim perspective than Darwinian explanations? Edis examines the range of Muslim thinking about science and Islam, from blatantly pseudoscientific fantasies to comparatively sophisticated efforts to "Islamize science". From the world’s strongest creationist movements to bizarre science-in-the-Quran apologetics, popular Muslim approaches promote a view of natural science as a mere fact-collecting activity that coexists in near-perfect harmony with literal-minded faith. Since Muslims are keenly aware that science and technology have been the keys to Western success, they are eager to harness technology to achieve a Muslim version of modernity. Yet at the same time, they are reluctant to allow science to become independent of religion and are suspicious of Western secularisation. Edis examines all of these conflicting trends, revealing the difficulties facing Muslim societies trying to adapt to the modern technological world. His discussions of both the parallels and the differences between Western and Muslim attempts to harmonise science and religion make for a unique and intriguing contribution to this continuing debate. { 265pp, 150x230mm, January 2007; HB, £18.99, 1591024498:9781591024491 , Prometheus Books } |
| FOCUS ON ISLAMIC ISSUES [Cofie D Malbouisson (ed)] There are about one billion Muslims in the world, concentrated primarily in North Africa, the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia. Islam teaches that Allah selected Muhammad, a merchant from Mecca, as the last of the prophets following Adam, Moses, Jesus, and others, to deliver God’s message to mankind. Islam has a long and complicated history as do most established religions. Islam is in the focus of world attention because of the actions of Islamic extremists, such as Osama bin Laden. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 and numerous other attacks have drawn particular attention to Muslims and the Islamic faith. This book examines some of the different sects of Islam and how their practices fit within contemporary times. { 94pp, 140x215mm, March 2007; PB, £25.99, 1600212042:9781600212048 , Nova Science Publishers } |
| IN SEARCH OF THE ORIGINAL KORAN : The True History of the Revealed Text [Mondher Sfar] Orthodox Muslims venerate the Koran as the sacred word of God, which they believe was literally revealed by dictation from the angel Gabriel to the prophet Muhammad. This fundamentalist attitude toward the Muslim holy book denies the possibility of error in the Koran -- even though there are some fairly obvious self-contradictions, inconsistencies, and incoherent passages in the text. To justify the claim that the Koran is inerrant, the orthodox have simply pointed to centuries of hidebound tradition and the consensus view of conservative leaders who back up this interpretation. But does the very beginning of the Muslim tradition lend support to the orthodox view? In this fascinating study of the origins of Islam, historian Mondher Sfar reveals that there is no historical, or even theological, basis for the orthodox view that Muhammad or his earliest followers intended the Koran to be treated as the inviolable word of God. With great erudition and painstaking historical research, Sfar demonstrates that the Koran itself does not support the literalist claims of Muslim orthodoxy. Indeed, as he carefully points out, passages from Islam's sacred book clearly indicate that the revealed text should not be equated with the perfect text of the original "celestial Koran", which was believed to exist only in heaven and to be fully known only by God. This early belief helps to explain why there were many variant texts of the Koran during Muhammad's lifetime and immediately thereafter, and also why this lack of consistency and the occasional revisions of earlier revelations seemed not to disturb his first disciples. They viewed the Koran as only an imperfect copy of the real heavenly original, a copy subject to the happenstances of Muhammad's life and to the human risks of its transmission. Only later, for reasons of social order and political power, did the first caliphs establish an orthodox policy, which turned Muhammad's revelations into the inerrant word of God, from which no deviation or dissent was permissible. This original historical exploration into the origins of Islam is also an important contribution to the growing movement for reform of Islam initiated by courageous Muslim thinkers convinced of the necessity of bringing Islam into the modern world. { 152pp, 155x230mm, December 2007; HB, £16.99, 1591025214:9781591025214 , Prometheus Books } |
| IN SEARCH OF THE TRUE POLITICAL POSITION OF THE 'ULAMA : An Analysis of the Aims & Perspectives of the Chronicles of Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti (1753-1825) [Lars Bjørneboe] In this volume Bjørneboe seeks to establish the interrelations among the three known works of the Cairene historian al-Jabarti: namely, Ta'rikh muddat al-Faransis bi-Misr mn sanat 1213 ila' sanat 1216 (composed 1799), Mazhar al-tagdis bi'zawal dawlat al-Faransis (composed 1801) and Aja'ib al-Athar fi'l tarajim wa'l akhbar (composed 1805-6). These chronicles, and particularly the last two, are the best known narrative sources in Arabic for the entire period of Ottoman rule in Egypt (1517-1798) until the rise of Mehmet Ali Pasha. They have been widely published, edited and translated into European languages, but in spite of this, no systematic analysis of their textual relationships has been undertaken until now. Through a textual approach Bjørneboe seeks to discover al-Jabarti's underlying political ideology, as well as the intellectual and political context within which he worked. Bjørneboe concludes that the first of al-Jabartis chronicles, the MS Mudda (1799) constitutes a contribution to a debate among Cairene 'ulama as to how the 'ulama should respond to the new French masters. This and the following editions were written under the patronage of the shaykh al-Sadat, one of Egypt's leading 'ulama at the time. Al-Jabarti promotes the view that the 'ulama should cooperate with the French only when absolute necessary in contrast to the selfserving conduct of other top 'ulama, notably shaykh 'Abdallah al-Sharqawi. The MS Mazhar (1801) reflects the situation when the returning Ottomans were meeting serious opposition in their attempt to bring Egypt back under direct Ottoman rule, while the MS Aja'ib (1805) should be seen as a plea for an ideal government with Mehmet 'Ali as the just ruler who governs in consultation with the 'ulama. So it is possible to demonstrate that the different versions of al-Jabarti's text all had their separate, specific purpose and were revised to accommodate to changing political circumstances. But throughout the twenty years al-Jabarti spent reworking his text he still attempted to formulate the true political position of the 'ulama. { 358pp, 155x230mm, May 2007; PB, £20.95, 8779342817:9788779342811 , Aarhus University Press } |
| INNOCENCE LOST : Islamism & the Battle Over Values & World Order [Lars Erslev Andersen] "Innocence Lost" examines how the matter of a number of cartoon drawings came to figure prominently on the international agenda. The book provides a description of the situation in the Middle East, including the background of the critical state of affairs in Iraq, which is best described as a state of civil war. With this as its point of departure, the book discusses the relationship between democratisation and Islamism, concluding that the present democratic process in the Middle East is apparently serving to strengthen the Islamists. Furthermore, it analyses the development of al-Qaida from being an organisation to becoming a global ideology enjoying widespread support and appealing to small local groups such as that behind the July 2005 London bombings. The book also analyses the war on terror as part of the global battle over values between a liberal and an Islamist interpretation of the concept of world order. The author poses the question of whether the world is heading towards a global civil war reminiscent of the protracted wars of religion of the late Middle Ages. { 194pp, 155x230mm, June 2007; PB, £20.75, 8776742008:9788776742003 , University Press of Southern Denmark } |
| ISLAMIC CALLIGRAPHY A survey of the major Islamic art form with over 200 colour and black-and-white reproductions. Historic and symbolical analysis of letter types and styles; glossary and expounded bibliography. { 200pp, 210x250mm, November 2006; PB, 8877780819:9788877780812 , Semar Publishers } |
| ISLAMIC TERROR ABDUCTIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST [Shaul Shay] This book investigates abductions, hostage taking, beheadings, and global jihad influences in four theatres in the Middle East over the last 25 years (1980-2005): Israel (as a part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict), Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq. It includes discussion of the William Buckley, William Higgins and "Iran gate" abductions. The "Nahshon Waxman" affair -- the Israeli soldier abducted and murdered by HAMAS in 1994 -- is presented as a case study in understanding the four major phases of an abduction -- preparation and planning; carrying out the abduction; negotiations; and the rescue attempt. Terrorist organisations use abduction as a tool for promotion of their and their patrons’ interests. Examination of Middle East abductions, and the relations/correlations between Islamic terrorist organisations and Iran, demonstrates Iran’s role as a terror supporting state, and the promotion of Iranian interests by its terrorist surrogates. The research examines the challenge posed by terrorist organisations for countries whose citizens have been abducted and the answers to that challenge, and provides theoretical classifications of the terror phenomenon in general and abductions/beheadings in particular. { 197pp, 152x229mm, April 2007; HB, £55.00, 1845191676:9781845191672 , Sussex Academic Press } |
| PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA [Lady Evelyn Cobbold; Introduction by William Facey & Miranda Taylor; Footnotes by Professor Ahmad S Turkistani] As the first British woman convert to Islam on record as having made the pilgrimage to Makkah and the visit to the Prophet's Tomb at Madinah, Lady Evelyn Cobbold (1867-1963) cuts a unique figure in the annals of the Muslim Hajj. Lady Evelyn was in her mid-sixties when she decided to go on the Hajj. Daughter of the distinguished Scottish explorer Lord Dunmore, granddaughter of the Earl of Leicester, and great-niece of the notorious romantic Lady Jane Digby el-Mezrab, the young Evelyn Murray had spent childhood winters in North Africa. There she had been imbued with the Muslim way of life, becoming, as she puts it, 'a little Muslim at heart'. Before and after the First World War she travelled widely in Egypt, Syria and Transjordan. While strongly drawn to the Arab world, she maintained a conventional place in society at home, marrying the wealthy John Cobbold in 1891 and devoting herself to her Suffolk house and Scottish estate, her gardens, and especially deer-stalking in the Highlands, of which she was a renowned exponent. When her husband, by then High Sheriff of Suffolk, died in 1929, Lady Evelyn decided to perform the pilgrimage. Arriving at Jiddah by steamer from Suez in February 1933, she stayed with the Philbys and entered into the life of Jiddah's foreign community while waiting to obtain permission to perform the Haj. In doing so, she had to overcome the considerable suspicion surrounding foreign 'converts' who, Muslims felt, made the pilgrimage and then wrote about it as a dangerous and sensational adventure. While in Jiddah she received visits from various officials of the royal court, notably the King's son the Amir Faysal (later King Faysal). PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA is as much an account of an interior journey of faith as a conventional travelogue. It takes the form of a day-by-day journal, interspersed with digressions on the history and merits of Islam. While awaiting permission to go to Makkah, she was allowed to travel to Madinah, of which she gives an enchanting account. She is the first English writer to give a first-hand description of the life of the women's quarters of the households in which she stayed in Madinah, Makkah and Muna -- an account remarkable for its sympathy and vividness. Her book was published in 1934 to favourable reviews but has never until now been reprinted. This new edition, with a biographical introduction by William Facey and Lady Evelyn's great-great-niece Miranda Taylor, serves to rescue this unique and intriguing Anglo-Muslim from the neglect that has since befallen her, even among scholars specialising in women travellers. { 336pp, 155x235mm, May 2008; HB, £25.00, 0954479289:9780954479282 , Arabian Publishing Ltd } |
| RADICAL EYE FOR THE INFIDEL GUY : Inside the Strange World of Militant Islam [Kevin J Ryan] Are you tired of hearing that Islam is really a religion of peace while beheadings of prisoners are broadcast on the Internet, fiendishly clever terrorist plots are continuously uncovered, and carnage in Iraq has become a routine occurrence? This book is for everyone who is fed up with the grotesque exercise of whitewashing the obviously grim realities of radical Islam with political correctness. Kevin J Ryan uses sardonic humour and a streak of radical irreverence to expose Islamist ideology for what it really is: fascism masquerading as religion. Like Chaplin taking on the Nazis in The Great Dictator, Ryan has a field day lampooning the patent absurdities espoused by Muslim extremists. Not afraid of caricature, he bluntly outlines his topics with chapter headings such as: How to Found a Religion of Peace and Declare War on the Rest of the World; Women's Rights, or What Size Stick to Use to Beat Your Wife; Europe on Five Massacres a Day; Tolerance and Diversity, or the Right to Practice Any Religion as Long as It's Islam; Education, or What's That about Allah Turning Jews and Christians into Pigs and Monkeys?; Back to the Future, or Forward to the Seventh Century. Other topics include radical Islam's "amputation-friendly criminal justice system", the reason why slavery is still considered a "holy institution" by fundamentalist Muslims, "the important distinction between a raving mad radical and a barking mad one", and a detailed description of what the average American Joe and Jane would look like after a radical Islamic makeover. Combining the debunking zeal of Thomas Paine's Age of Reason with Mad magazine's wacky view of history and politics, Ryan has written the most politically incorrect -- and funniest -- book on radical Islam that you are ever likely to read. { 272pp, 155x230mm, March 2007; HB, £15.99, 1591025079:9781591025078 , Prometheus Books } |
| RISE OF ISLAM [Matthew Gordon] "What sets this text apart from many others is its focus on the socioeconomic, political, and cultural milieu in which a new religious movement was born and has thrived; its discussion of the origins of Islamic law, spirituality and theology, mysticism, philosophy, and culture; and an appendix of individual page-length biographies of important figures. Also included is a helpful glossary of terms, a 'photo essay,' selections from primary sources, and an annotated bibliography. . . . " -- The Historian { 192pp, October 2008; PB, £10.95, 0872209318:9780872209312 , Hackett Publishing } |
| WHICH KORAN? : Variants, Manuscripts, & the Influence of Pre-Islamic Poetry [Ibn Warraq (ed)] Few Muslims realise that there are several Korans in circulation in the Islamic world, with textual variations whose significance, extent, and meaning have never been properly examined. Ibn Warraq has here assembled important scholarly articles that address the history, linguistics, and religious implications of these not-trifling variants in Islam's sacred book. In a lengthy introduction, Warraq notes that historical and linguistic evidence suggests that there was considerable confusion regarding what should be included in the Koran in the early years of Muslim history. Although the caliph Uthman canonised a specific text some fifteen years after the death of Muhammad, variant readings of certain passages have persisted to the present. This can be seen in discrepancies between the two main printed versions of the Koran available today (the Warsh transmission found in West and Northwest Africa and the Hafs transmission, stemming from Kufa, and widely available through the standard Egyptian edition of 1924). This, coupled with the fact that Muslim secondary literature (the Hadiths) discusses missing Koranic verses and even Muhammad's sometimes faulty memory, strongly indicate that the Koran cannot be considered an inert revelation. Warraq organises the articles in this volume into subsections dealing with the language of the Koran; pre-Islamic poetry and its possible influence on the writing of the Koran; influences from Jewish and Christian sources and from Qumran (the Dead Sea Scrolls); problems of obscure vocabulary and orthography; variant readings in different Koranic manuscripts; and questions surrounding the biography of the prophet Muhammad. As a visual aid, Warraq has compiled a unique and valuable chart of thirty-two Koranic variants found in Korans available in the Islamic world, along with remarks on their significance. In-depth yet accessible to non-specialists interested in Islam, "Which Koran?" raises important questions about Islam's holy book. { 450pp, 155x230mm, November 2008; HB, £23.99, 1591024293:9781591024293 , Prometheus Books } |