Tamara Sonn 
Islam [PDF ebook] 
History, Religion, and Politics

Foreword ix
Preface xi
Maps xiii
1 Many Paths to One God: Establishing the Ideals 1
The Quran 1
The Quran and Other Scriptures 7
Themes of the Quran 12
The Exemplary Life of Muhammad, Prophet of Islam:
The Sunna 21
The Early Muslim Community and the Pillars of Islam 24
The Successors (‘Caliphs’) 27
Early Communal Disputes 29
Conclusion 31
2 The Pursuit of Knowledge in the Service of God and Humanity: The Golden Age 34
Institutions 35
Law 36
Political Structure 43
Cultural Achievements 45
Spirituality and the Mystical Tradition: Sufism 54
Conclusion 68
3 Division and Reorganization 71
The Crusades and Other Disasters 71
The Decline of the Abbasids and Rise of the Ottomans 77
Persia: The Safavid Empire 84
India and the Rise of the Mughals 87
Understanding Developments in Islamic History 95
Conclusion 99
4 Colonialism and Reform 101
Colonialism 101
The Outcome of World War I 110
The Effects of Colonialism and Themes of Islamic Reform 117
Modern Iterations of Islamic Reform and New Challenges 125
Islamist Approaches to Reform 129
Conclusion: Mainstream Islamists and Radicals 135
5 Contemporary Islam: The Challenges of Democratization and Complications of Global Politics 139
Turkey 141
Iran 144
Pakistan, Afghanistan, and al?]Qaeda 154
Indonesia 166
Tunisia and the Arab Spring 168
What about Terrorism? ISIS, Boko Haram, Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and Hezbollah 173
Conclusion: Asking the Right Questions 185
Further Reading 195
Index 000

Tamara Sonn is the Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor in the History of Islam at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. She has published numerous books, including Interpreting Islam: Bandali Jawzi’s Islamic Intellectual History (1996), Comparing Religions through Law: Judaism and Islam (with J. Neusner, 1999), and most recently The Religion Toolkit: A Complete Guide to Religious Studies (with J. Morreall, 2011) and 50 Great Myths About Religion (with J. Morreall, 2014).