An Introduction to Islam

Introduction; Part 1 Religion and Common Life in the Pre-Islamic Near East; Chapter 1 Early Civilizations and the Origins of Judaism and Christianity; Chapter 2 Pre-Islamic Arabia: Beliefs, Values, Way of Life; Part 2 The Coming of Islam: The Prophet, His People, and God's Religion; Chapter 3 Muhammad and the Early Muslim Community; Chapter 4 The Arab Conquests and Islamic Rule: The Struggle for a Unified Umma; Part 3 The Islamic Religious System; Chapter 5 The Basic Beliefs and Worship Practices of Islam; Chapter 6 The Nature and Function of the Qur'an; Chapter 7 The Prophet's Sunna as Preserved in the ?ad?th; Chapter 8 Muslim Creeds and Theologies: Their Purposes and Varieties; Chapter 9 Law and the State in Classical Islamic Formulations; Part 4 The Sufi Way of Mysticism and Fellowship; Chapter 10 Islamic Mysticism and the Disciplines of Esoteric Piety; Chapter 11 Masters and Disciples: The Forms and Functions of Sufi Orders; Part 5 Patterns of Islamic Personal and Communal Life; Chapter 12 The Islamic Life Cycle and the Family; Chapter 13 Ideals and Realities of Islamic Community Life; Part 6 Islam in the Modern World; Chapter 14 Major Movements and Trends in Renewal and Reform; Chapter 15 Three Forms of Islamic Revival: "Fundamentalism," Feminism, and Establishing the Umma in North America; Chapter 16 Whither Islam and the Muslims? Progressive Muslims with a Vision of an "Islam without Borders";