| |
Islam is the world`s fastest growing religion and the
second largest after Christianity. There are an
estimated 1.57 billion followers of Islam spread
across the globe accounting for one out of every four
persons and representing diverse social and cultural
traditions.
Yet surprisingly, little is known about them and their
contribution to the communities they live in either as
native citizens or immigrants. This lack of
awareness, partly a result of paucity of writing on the
subject, has created an image of Islam and Muslims
that is often grossly distorted.
This volume, edited by Mushirul Hasan - one of
India`s most distinguished historians and
commentators - seeks to fill this gap by bringing
together a range of scholarly views on Islam in the
context of a rapidly globalizing world.
What is the impact of globalization on Islam and
Muslim identity? How are Muslims, especially
Muslim minority communities in different parts of the
world, responding to globalization? And how is it
changing their perceptions of their own identity and
their world-view?
In his introduction Professor Hasan argues that
these are "important questions that touch deep -
seated chords of feelings"
"Today more and more social scientists are engaged
in `understanding` Islam and `observing` Muslim
societies within historically informed social contexts.
With one-third of the world`s Muslims now living as
members of a minority, they are busy exploring their
responses to globalization, westernization, and the
impact of living in a minority. To what extent does
globalization cause the old traditional points of
reference to disappear? To what extent it reawakens
passionate affirmations of identity that often verges
on withdrawal and self-exclusion? These questions
can still arouse interest in our colleges and
universities," he writes.
This book is an important contribution to the debate
on modern Islam and attempts to answer the allimportant
question: where does it go from here?
ISBN - 9788188861088
|
| |
Pages : 482
|