Islam and Muslims: A Guide to Diverse Experience in a Modern World

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 276 pages
• Published by: Intercultural Press
• Edition: 1st Edition April 29, 2006
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1931930163
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1931930161
• Book Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Weighs: 14.4 ounces

Product Description
This is an authoritative and comprehensive guide to Islam and Muslims, which allows readers to appreciate a diverse culture and understand real people in their everyday lives. While many books are devoted to the study of Islam, and dozens more to specific Muslim societies (usually Arab ones), this is the first to bring together both, explaining Islam in theory and in practice across the diverse Muslim world. Readers learn not just what Islam says about everything from the nature of God to marriage to politics, but also how individual Muslims (traditional or modern, devout or barely observant) apply teachings in everyday life.

Publisher Description
"Sedgwick’s long experience of living in the Muslim world and studying Islam gives authority to this book which successfully balances coverage of formal beliefs and actual practices. This realistic analysis is sympathetic but not apologetic. Islam and Muslims is a very helpful resource for anyone trying to understand the dynamics of Islamic history and contemporary Muslim life."

—John Voll, Professor of Islamic History at Georgetown University, and Associate Director, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University.

"Islam & Muslims is really very, very good. I can attest that I truly enjoyed reading it, taking great satisfaction in the way that Mark Sedgwick managed time after time to ‘get it right’."

—L. Carl Brown, Garrett Professor in Foreign Affairs Emeritus, Princeton University

"Looking for a really good one-stop book on Islam and Muslims to recommend to friends and relations? Islam and Muslims is up-to-date, well-informed, insightful and sympathetic without being evasive."

—Michael Cook, author of The Koran: A Very Short Introduction

"Mark Sedgwick’s Islam and Muslims is an accessible and informative survey of the way Islam is actually practiced today, written in a refreshingly direct style. It will appeal especially to the general reader seeking a knowledgeable but non-technical view of Muslim societies."

—Carl Ernst, Director, Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations, William R. Kenan Professor of Religious Studies, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

"Islam & Muslims draws on Mark Sedgwick's expertise and experiences as a scholar of Islam who has lived among Muslims for many years. The book stands out for its insightful focus on the everyday life of ordinary Muslims. Through comparisons between Islamic, Jewish and Christian traditions, Islam & Muslims succeeds in explaining to non-Muslims in the West not only the ideals of Islam, but also the diverse ways Islam is experienced by contemporary Muslims."

—Kambiz GhaneaBassiri, Assistant Professor of Religion and Humanities, Reed College

"Islam and Muslims is a most accessible, intimately informative, and thoroughly engaging read. Students and general readers alike will simply love this book. Whether one is wondering about how Muslims worship, what Muslims think about family and gender, why Islam has ‘clashed’ with the West, or all of these and more, this unique book is one that I would most highly recommend!"

—Bradley S. Clough, Abdulhadi H. Taher Chair in Comparative Religion, The American University in Cairo

Reader Reviews
Dr. Mark Sedgwick (associate professor of modern Middle East history, American University in Cairo) introduces Western readers to the Islamic world and explores the various different Muslim societies in Islam & Muslims: A Guide to Diverse Experience in a Modern World. Accessible to lay readers of all backgrounds, regardless of personal familiarity with Islam, Islam & Muslims briefly surveys the faith's history but is much more strongly concerned with Muslims in the present day - from world view and worship practices to family practices, daily life, the intersection of Islam and politics including the unfortunate reality of Islamic political violence. An evenhanded, straightforward evaluation, to be commended especially for its close scrutiny of the cultural differences that at first glance make Islamic and Muslim practices alien to Westerners, and Western culture confusing to or misinterpreted by Muslims.