Tackling a subject that is as timely as it is complex, this expert work examines the turmoil inside Muslim communities, helping outsiders to understand and insiders to examine ways in which Islam can be reinterpreted for a modern world. The Global Muslim Community at a Crossroads: Understanding Religious Beliefs, Practices, and Infighting to End the Conflict is an illuminating work. Written by an eminent psychologist who was raised as a Muslim in India and now resides in the United States, it examines the core reasons for the current state of affairs in Muslim communities, explaining the psychological underpinnings of Muslim religion and practices and the reasons they can fuel violence. Drawing on the editor's exposure to Eastern and Western cultures and his longstanding interest in the study of comparative world religions, this impartial analysis takes a multidimensional approach to explaining the current plight of Muslim countries. It candidly discusses issues such as the influence of Islamic schools, the negative and positive roles of Ulema (religious scholars), a lack of critical inquiry into religious thought, Sharia, and the status of women in Islam. Finally, there are positive suggestions about a road to recovery, explaining how Muslim communities can address the interlocking problems they face while retaining the positive aspects of their beliefs.

Tackling a subject that is as timely as it is complex, this expert work examines the turmoil inside Muslim communities, helping outsiders to understand and insiders to examine ways in which Islam can be reinterpreted for a modern world. The Global Muslim Community at a Crossroads: Understanding Religious Beliefs, Practices, and Infighting to End the Conflict is an illuminating work. Written by an eminent psychologist who was raised as a Muslim in India and now resides in the United States, it examines the core reasons for the current state of affairs in Muslim communities, explaining the psychological underpinnings of Muslim religion and practices and the reasons they can fuel violence. Drawing on the editor's exposure to Eastern and Western cultures and his longstanding interest in the study of comparative world religions, this impartial analysis takes a multidimensional approach to explaining the current plight of Muslim countries. It candidly discusses issues such as the influence of Islamic schools, the negative and positive roles of Ulema (religious scholars), a lack of critical inquiry into religious thought, Sharia, and the status of women in Islam. Finally, there are positive suggestions about a road to recovery, explaining how Muslim communities can address the interlocking problems they face while retaining the positive aspects of their beliefs.

It is undeniable that Islam is today in a condition of deep crisis. Political upheavals that dominate popular discussion of the subject are no more than surface expressions of a problem of historic dimensions: the inability of Islamic scholars and institutions to reconcile the teachings and perspectives of their Faith with the realities of modernity. Democratic and constitutional government, pluralistic societies, the authority of the sciences, such principles as gender equality and religious freedom, a rapidly integrating world - all these familiar features of contemporary civilization pose insurmountable challenges to anyone who attempts to accommodate them to religious guidance laid down fourteen centuries ago for an earlier, much simpler stage in humanity's social evolution. One sees in contemporary Islam a society desperately searching for, and failing always to find, a formula that will make it possible to retain traditional Muslim faith in God while embracing the inescapable requirements of a world beyond the imagination of ages past. At the same time, millions of Muslims view with feelings of outrage and helplessness the caricature of the Faith they love that an aggressive fundamentalism is determined to impose upon it. Equally significant has been the awakening of European populations to the implications of the presence in their midst of a vast number of Muslim immigrants - some now into the third generation - who often appear essentially irreconcilable with certain foundational norms of Western culture. Perhaps not surprisingly, this has inspired widespread desire to understand the religious roots of such phenomena, awakening an unprecedented interest in Islamic belief and practice. Islam at the Crossroads presents extracts drawn primarily from the texts of the Qur'an and the Bible to explain the interrelationship between Islam and its sister Abrahamic religions, Judaism and Christianity, as well as the Baha'i Faith, the most recent link in the chain of religions capable of responding to the process of transformation in which the entire world is today caught up. The format illustrates the progressive pattern and integral coherence of the divine Revelations as constituents of one common faith, and demonstrates the principle that 'God, Who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us, ' and, specifically, to followers of Islam, through Baha'u'llah. 'Globalization' and 'modernity', far from being alien to the Faith taught in the Qur'an, are thus rather a fulfilment of it, both spiritually and practically. Clearly, Muslims have as much right to this common heritage of humankind as do the people of any other religious background. Within the Baha'i community, much emphasis is placed on the importance of Western Baha'is undertaking a serious study of Islam, using for the purpose 'sources that are authoritative and unbiased'. This book examines the criteria offered by the teachings of Baha'u'llah for the validity of the Mission of the Prophet Muhammad, and some of the reasons why Islam and its fortunes are directly dependent on submission to God's Will and following His Straight Path in this day and age. Born in Iran and brought up in Africa, Dr Lameh Fananapazir studied medicine in Scotland and is currently a cardiologist and electrophysiologist in the United States. He is the author of several hundred medical articles and spent two and half years in Haifa, Israel where he was the director of the Health Services at the Baha'i World Centre and Visiting Professor of Molecular Genetics at Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. This book was born out of his curiosity concerning the root causes of religious fanaticism and increasing certitude that Baha'u'llah's teachings represent the only possible remedy."

First Iraq... then Iran... then perhaps Pakistan... With Iran clinging to theocracy and neighboring Turkey clutching at the E.U., and with Indonesia on a political tightrope, Islam is indeed at a crossroads in the new century. The demographics say that Islam's 1.2 billion adherents will increase in numbers, but the geopolitical map says they won't increase in power on the global stage. Muslims won't get richer. Why? Is it because of some American-Zionist conspiracy? Is it because of Israel? Or the price of oil? Or feminism? Maybe it's because of the Muslims themselves, who cannot shed their differences regarding their beliefs, their political affiliations, aid and trade, and the very nature of Islam itself. The author's message here is stark. "We have to co-operate amongst ourselves. We have to stop fighting each other." He cites Europe as a shining example of co-operation - even after communism and two World Wars. But can Islam (="Peace") find a mature role among the great world powers in an increasingly secular and mercenary world? Read Mohamed's in-depth analysis of a troubled faith, and decide for yourself.

This thought-provoking book takes a close look at the world of Islam and the challenges it faces in the modern world. From politics to social issues, De Lacy O'Leary offers a concise yet comprehensive overview of the present position of the Muslim faith. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.