Islam in the Modern World

Challenged by the West, Threatened by Fundamentalism, Keeping Faith with Tradition

Talking Points

Seyyed Hossein Nasr has already distinguished himself as one of the great intellectuals in Islamic history. He discusses today’s hot button issues: holy wars, women’s roles, rise of fundamentalism, the future of the Middle East, etc. Fans of Fareed Zakaria (The Post-American World) and Reza Aslan (How to Win a Cosmic War), will find this book enlightening, as well as those interested in current world affairs.

Description

As Muslims grow in numbers, and as Islam’s role in world affairs becomes larger, we’ve begun to see the breakdown in a united fellowship among believers. Certainly the misunderstandings and friction between Islamic civilization and the modern West continue. But even within Islam, Iran’s clerics are split, militant fundamentalists clash with students from Islamic universities, moderate Muslim-Americans look nothing like wahhabis from Saudi Arabia. Islam seems to be at war with itself. Extremist factions whose self-righteous rhetoric currently shapes our fears and prejudices have attempted to co-opt the Islamic faith. In Islam in the Modern World, one of the foremost Islamic scholars in the United States takes that faith back, describing and defending traditional Islam against all critics-without and within the faith.