This eleventh edition was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. Some of its articles were written by the best-known scholars of the time and it is considered to be a landmark encyclopaedia for scholarship and literary style.

An exploration of how Muslims in the United States have interpreted the Qur'an in ways that make it speak to their American realities In Speaking Qur'an: An American Scripture, Timur R. Yuskaev examines how Muslim Americans have been participating in their country's cultural, social, religious, and political life. Essential to this process, he shows, is how the Qur'an has become an evermore deeply American text that speaks to central issues in the lives of American Muslims through the spoken-word interpretations of Muslim preachers, scholars,and activists. Yuskaev illustrates this process with four major case studies that highlight dialogues between American Muslim public intellectuals and their audiences. First, through an examination of the work of Fazlur Rahman, he addresses the question of how the premodern Qur'an is translated across time into modern, American settings. Next the author contemplates the application of contemporary concepts of gender to renditions of the Qur'an alongside Amina Wadud's American Muslim discourses on justice.Then he demonstrates how the Qur'an becomes a text of redemption in W. D. Mohammed's oral interpretation of the Qur'an as speaking directly to the African American experience. Finally he shows how, before and after 9/11, Hamza Yusuf invoked the Qur'an as a guide to the political life of American Muslims. Set within the rapidly transforming contexts of the last half century, and central to the volume, are the issues of cultural translation and embodiment of sacred texts that Yuskaev explores by focusing on the Qur'an as a spoken scripture. The process of the Qur'an becoming an American sacred text, he argues, is ongoing. It comes to life when the Qur'an is spoken and embodied by its American faithful.

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Mawdudi argues that the true understanding of Islamic civilization is possible only by having access to the soul of that civilization and its underlying fundamental principles – belief in God, the angels, the Prophets, the Revealed Books and the Last Day – rather than to its manifestations in knowledge, literature, fine arts, social life or its system of governance.

This volume, the first of six to be published, studies fundamental values of Islam, along with the nature of rights and the responsibilities in a general context. The authors analyse the development of social thought and morality in Islam, and ways in which they are enforced through the family and education. Particular attention is paid to the status of women, children, youth and the socially excluded. Several chapters broach specially Islamic approaches to economics, government and justice. A world religion since its inception in the seventh century A.D., Islam is today seeking vigorous answers to contemporary problems through its multi-faceted history. Issues of poverty and wealth, inequality and demands for political expression, and respect for diversity in a difficult world of conformity are dealt with in this series. The study is organized along thematic rather than chronological lines and thus it is not necessary to read the volumes in order. Volume II is in fact the first to have been published. Volume IV is forthcoming end 2002, volume V mid 2003 and volumes III and VI in 2004. This volume, the first of six to be published, studies fundamental values of Islam, along with the nature of rights and the responsibilities in a general context. The authors analyse the development of social thought and morality in Islam, and ways in which they are enforced through the family and education. Particular attention is paid to the status of women, children, youth and the socially excluded. Several chapters broach specially Islamic approaches to economics, government and justice.

Islamic culture, which is still vigorous in spite of its great antiquity, set out to develop side by side a vision of the individual and of the universe, a philosophy and an art of living that can be seen in the impressive remains of its heritage that is an essential part of the whole of humankind's. Halted for a time by adverse historical conditions, this culture none the less found the strength within itself to re-emerge. Its fidelity to its roots does not prevent it from keeping up with the times and participating in contemporary forums and the stirring dialogue of cultures. This series of volumes on the manifold facets of Islamic culture is intended to acquaint a very wide public with such matters as: the theological bases of the faith and principles that constitute the bedrock of the overall structure; the status of the individual and of society in the Islamic world; the expansion of Islam since the Revelation: the Arab, Asian, African and European spheres espousing the new faith and the way in which the rights of converted peoples have been upheld; the vital contribution of Islamic civilization to the adventure of human knowledge in science and technology; the educational and cultural manifestations of Islamic civilization in literature, the visual arts and architecture; finally, Islam today between loyalty to its past and the inescapable conquest of modernity.

Family, Law and Politics, Volume II of the Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures, brings together over 360 entries on women, family, law, politics, and Islamic cultures around the world.