Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and Society

Book Cover......Page 1
Title......Page 4
Contents......Page 5
Preface to the Revised Edition......Page 10
Foreword by Lawrence Rosen......Page 14
Preface......Page 20
Introduction: discovering Islam......Page 22
Muslim ideal: holy Book and Prophet......Page 36
A theory of Islamic history......Page 51
Ideal caliphs......Page 54
Arab dynasties: Umayyads and Abbasids......Page 59
The flowering of Islamic civilization......Page 65
Decline and fall......Page 72
Shias: revolution in the revolution......Page 76
Mahdism and millenarian movements......Page 82
The great Muslim empires: Ottomans, Saffavids and Mughals......Page 86
Saffavids: Shia state......Page 90
Mughals: encounter with Hinduism......Page 93
Obsession and synthesis......Page 107
Sufis and scholars......Page 111
Sufis, saints and mystics......Page 112
Two scholars of Islam: Al Beruni and Ibn Khaldun......Page 119
Islam of the periphery......Page 128
The Muslim minority in China......Page 131
Muslims in the USSR......Page 132
Under European rule: the colonial impact on Muslim society......Page 138
The disintegration of society......Page 139
The myth of the noble savage: Muslim tribesman......Page 153
Princes and paupers: Muslim societies in Saudi Arabia and south India......Page 164
Saudi Arabia: the reawakening of the peninsula......Page 165
The Andalus syndrome in south India:  la recherche du temps perdu......Page 179
Muslim society turned inside out: ethnicity, women and refugees......Page 193
Muslim women......Page 205
Afghan refugees: displacement and despair......Page 217
The reconstruction of Muslim thought......Page 221
Creating Islamic social sciences......Page 229
Only connect......Page 238
Connecting......Page 242
Conclusion: the discovery of Islam......Page 248
Muslim chronology......Page 253
Glossary of Islamic terminology......Page 258
suggested readings......Page 259
Index......Page 261