Muslims Their Religious Beliefs and Practices

Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices offers a survey of Islamic history and thought from the formative period of the religion to the contemporary period. It examines the unique elements which have combined to form Islam, in particular, the Qur?an and perceptions of the Prophet Mu?ammad, and traces the ways in which these ideas have interacted to influence Islam’s path to the present. Combining core source materials with coverage of current scholarship and of recent events in the Islamic world, Bernheimer and Rippin introduce this hugely significant religion, including alternative visions of Islam found in Shi’ism and Sufism, in a succinct, challenging, and refreshing way. The improved and expanded fifth edition is updated throughout and includes new textboxes. With detailed illustrations and a new companion website, Muslims is the ideal introduction for students who wish to explore the key issues of Muslims, from the Qur?an to Islamic feminism, to issues of identity, Islamophobia, and modern visions of Islam.

List of Illustrations Preface to the fifth edition Introduction Part I: Formative elements of classical Islam 1 Prehistory 2 The Quran 3 Mu?ammad Part II: Emergence of Islamic identity 4 Political action and theory 5 Theological exposition 6 Legal developments 7 Ritual practice Part III: Alternative visions of classical Islamic identity 8 The Shi a 9 ?ufi devotion Part IV: Consolidation of Islamic identity 10 Intellectual culture 11 Medieval visions of Islam Part V: Modern visions of Islam 12 Describing modernity 13 Mu?ammad and modernity 14 The Quran and modernity 15 Issues of identity: ritual and politics Part VI: Re-visioning Islam 16 Women, intellectuals, and other challenges 17 Perceptions of Muslims in the twenty-first century Glossary References General index Index of Qur?an citations

Teresa Bernheimer is currently Gerda Henkel Fellow at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany, working on religious extremism in the early Islamic period. Andrew Rippin was Professor of History and former Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Victoria, Canada, and among the foremost scholars of the Qur?an.