DescriptionIn this visit to New York's 92nd Street Y, Irshad Manji and Ayaan Hirsi Ali discuss the trouble with Islam. Irshad Manji is the best-selling author of The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith . Manji has been called by The New York Times "Osama bin Laden's worst nightmare". The winner of Oprah Winfrey's first annual 'Chutzpah Award', Manji is currently a visiting fellow at Yale University and is producing a feature film about what there is to love within Islam. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the author of The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam, advocates the need for democratic governments to commit to defending the human rights of women in the Islamic world. Ali is a Dutch feminist and politician. She is a prominent (and often controversial) author, film maker, and critic of Islam.
DescriptionFor centuries, the works of Aristotle and other Greek thinkers were preserved in the Arabic world, where they profoundly influenced Muslim thinkers who were trying to combine philosophical insight with religious piety. The intellectual range of this great tradition is remarkable: nothing escaped investigation, from details of medicine to the mysteries of God's nature. Avicenna and Averroes produced philosophical systems that rival the greatest intellectual structures ever built. The World of Philosophy series is a dramatic presentation, in understandable language, of the concerns, questions, interests, and overall outlook of the world's great philosophers and philosophical traditions. Special emphasis on clear and relevant explanations gives you a new arsenal of insights toward living a better life.
DescriptionIslam today is a rapidly growing religion: Indonesia, the most populous Islamic land, has well over 100 million Muslims. Islam means "submission to the will of God"; Muslims are "submitters" to God's will as it was communicated to the prophet Muhammad in a series of divine revelations. Islam began in the seventh century, and had evolved into various forms, including Sunni and Shi'ah Muslims, Sufi mystics, and others. It has been and remains one of the most significant influences in the world. The Religion, Scriptures, and Spirituality series describes the beliefs, religious practices, and the spiritual and moral commitments of the world's great religious traditions. It also describes a religion's way of understanding scripture, identifies its outstanding thinkers, and discusses its attitude and relationship to society.
DescriptionIslam features widely in the news, often in its most militant versions, but few people in the non-Muslim world really understand the nature of Islam. Malise Ruthven's Very Short Introduction contains essential insights into various issues such as the major divisions between movements like the Shi'ites, the Sunnis, and the Wahhabis; and the central importance of the Shar'ia (Islamic law) in Islamic life.
DescriptionWhat if Jihad means striving to be good? What if Islam means that you cannot cause suffering to another life? What if Islam means that you cannot judge other lives? What if Islam and World Peace mean the same thing? Islam teaches that we must not kill each other. Instead we must wage war against evil qualities within ourselves. Islam seeks to join together as one, knowing that those who have not affirmed the Kalimah (the affirmation of Faith) are our neighbors, and that those who have affirmed the Kalimah become a part of us. Oneness is the most important aspect of Islam: protecting our neighbors from danger is primary, and then we must embrace them...that is Islam.
