Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives - Islamic Books ...

Suggestions for Further Reading and Internet Resourc e s 3 1 1Secondary SourcesCook, Michael. 2000. The Koran: A Ve ry Short Intro d u c t i o n . New York: OxfordUniversity Press.This small handbook provides a useful introduction to the history of theQur’anic text as well as to the practices of reading and interpreting theQur’an in Muslim history.Endress, Gerhard. 2002. Islam: An Historical Intro d u c t i o n . Translated by C. Hillenbrand.New York: Columbia University Press.This volume provides a concise introduction to the history of Islam, focusingon the periods before 1900. It also includes an essay on the history of Islamicstudies in the West as well as useful appendices on Muslim names and titlesand on the lunar calendar and a time line of Muslim history.Esposito, John L., and John O. Voll. 2001. Makers of Contemporary Islam. N e wYork: Oxford University Press.The chapters in this volume present introductions to the life and thoughtof a number of major figures in contemporary Islam, including Mary a mJameelah, Abdol Karim Soroush, Anwar Ibrahim, and Abdurrahman Wahid.F a k h ry, Majid. 1983. A History of Islamic Philosophy. 2nd ed. New York: ColumbiaUniversity Press.This helpful work provides an overview of and introduction to the historyof Islamic philosophy.Hodgson, Marshall G. S. 1974. The Ve n t u re of Islam: Conscience and History in aWorld Civilization. Vol. 1, The Classical Age of Islam. Chicago: University ofChicago Press.An unfinished masterpiece of modern Islamic studies, this work is a richand self-reflective examination of Muslim history from the origins of Islam tothe modern period. Its introductory essay on the study of Islam by Westernscholars is a great place to start reading in this field.Johansen, Baber. 1999. Contingency in a Sacred Law: Legal and Ethical Norms inthe Muslim Fiqh. Leiden: Brill.Although this collection is mostly made up of rather technical studies forspecialists, the first chapter, “The Muslim Fiqh as Sacred Law,” provides a verygood introduction to the basic workings of Islamic law.Knysh, Alexander D. 2000. Islamic Mysticism: A Short History. Leiden: Brill.This helpful handbook provides an overview of and introduction to Su-