New Encyclopedia of Islam: A Revised Edition of the Concise Encyclopedia of Islam

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 562 pages
• Published by: AltaMira Press
• Edition: Revised Edition January 28, 2003
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0759101906
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0759101906
• Book Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 1.6 inches
• Weighs: 2.6 pounds

Product Description
The New Encyclopedia of Islam is the only single-volume work in print which so comprehensively encompasses the beliefs, practices, history and culture of the Islamic world, in over 1300 entries. All aspects of religious belief, ritual, practices, prayer, significant political movements, spiritual and political leaders, art, architecture, sects, law, social institutions, history, ethnography, nations and states, languages, science, major cities and centers of learning are covered.

About The Author
Born in 1944, Cyril Glasse, author of "The New Encyclopedia of Islam", is an American citizen of mainly Russian descent. He is currently an international lecturer on comparative religion, and is preparing a timeline of Islamic history (alongside other works). He has recently lectured at the University of Saratov, Russia; the Oriental Institutes in St Petersburg and Moscow; at the Grand Mosque, Tashkent; the Badshahi Mosque, Lahore; the University of Calabria, Italy; the Open Center and Cooper Union in New York; and at Lund Sweden. He is the author of "The Berlitz Guide to Saudi Arabia", editor of "A Pilgrim's Guide to Mecca" for the Hajj Research Center of King Abd al-'Aziz University in Jeddah. His graduate degree in Islamic Studies from Columbia College in 1991 had been preceded 15 years earlier with a degree, also from Columbia, in Russian. As a young man, Cyril Glasse worked in Morocco as a volunteer on a United Nations development project. It was in Ouzzanne, the religious center in the foothills of the Rif mountains in Morocco, and site of age-old Arabo-Islamic institutions, that Glasse converted to Islam. In the late 1960s, he studies there with traditional teachers, and "faqihs". At the same period of early life he conversed or studied with the heads of various important mosques and centers of pilgrimmage, including Moulay Idriss Zerhoun, the Imam of the Qarawiyyin, Sidi Boush'arah (one of the last surviving representatives of the Shaykh Tayyib Darqawi), Sidi Ahmad al-'Alawi (of Algeria), and various other "'ulama" (scholars of theology). His acquaintanceship and region of studies included association with wandering dervishes and Sufis of various orders. In parallel, he studied the full range of Western academic authorities on Islam (and the other major religions), in the five langauges of which he has a fluent command. From this period Glasse has continued to travel extensively throughout the Islamic world, attending spiritual centers in Maurentia, Algeria, Egypt, Turkey, Arabia, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and the republics of Central Asia. He has an intimate acquaintance with Mecca. From 1972-1978 his main residential base was Switzerland, as editor of an international journal. He know lives in New York City, with his wife and sonu --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: New Encyclopedia of Islam: A Revised Edition of the Concise Encyclopedia of Islam (Hardcover) First of all, I'd like to say "BRAVO" and "EXCELLENT JOB" to the Author and international lecturer Mr. Cyril Glasse. I used the 1989 edition to find some information about a few entries. I thought i'll just find the entries, read about them, and close the book. But it didn't happen. Each enrty lead me to other entries which were more interesting and so on. I really enjoyed every second I spent using this encyclopedia. That's what I call a "quality time". That is because I am interested in comparative religion and I like reading about Christianity, Judaism, Freemasonry, and Islam. And this is a very nice addition to my small library of cool books. Highly recommended...