The Preaching of Islam: A History of the Propagation of the Muslim Faith Sir Thomas Walker Arnold (1864, Devonport, Devon - 1930) was an eminent British orientalist and historian of Islamic art who taught at MAO College, Aligarh Muslim University, then Aligarh College, and Government College University, Lahore. He was a friend of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, and wrote his famous book "The preaching of Islam" at the insistence of Sir Syed. He was also the teacher of famous poet-philosopher Muhammad Iqbal, Syed Sulaiman Nadvi and a very close friend of Shibli Nomani who was also a teacher at Aligarh

Muslim preaching has been central in forming public opinion, building grassroots organizations, and developing leadership cadres for the wider Islamist agenda. Based on in-depth field research in Egypt, Patrick Gaffney focuses on the preacher and the sermon as the single most important medium for propounding the message of Islam. He draws on social history, political commentary, and theological sources to reveal the subtle connections between religious rhetoric and political dissent. Many of the sermons discussed were given during the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, and Gaffney attempts to describe this militant movement and to compare it with official Islam. Finally, Gaffney presents examples of the sermons, so readers can better understand the full range of contemporary Islamic expression.

This book which forms Prof. Thomas Arnold s magnum opus deals with a subject which few have broached to this day and gives an authoritative history of the expansion of Islam through peaceful preaching and missionary activity. The author has covered most of the countries where Muslims live. This book is a chronicle of fundamental importance and worth possessing.

Islamic popular preachers and storytellers had enormous influence in defining common religious knowledge and faith in the medieval Near East. Jonathan Berkey’s book illuminates the popular culture of religious storytelling. It draws on chronicles, biographical dictionaries, sermons, and tales — but especially on a number of medieval treatises critical of popular preachers, and also a vigorous defense of them which emerged in fourteenth-century Egyptian Sufi circles. Popular preachers drew inspiration and legitimacy from the rise of Sufi mysticism, with its emphasis on internal spiritual activity and direct enlightenment, enabling them to challenge or reinforce social and political hierarchies as they entertained the masses with tales of moral edification. As these charismatic figures developed a popular following, they often aroused the wrath of scholars and elites, who resented innovative interpretations of Islam that undermined orthodox religious authority and blurred social and gender barriers. Critics of popular preachers and storytellers worried that they would corrupt their audiences’ understanding of Islam. Their defenders argued that preachers and storytellers could contribute to the consensus of the Islamic community as to what constituted acceptable religious knowledge. In the end, religious knowledge, and the definition of Islam as it was commonly understood, remained porous and flexible throughout the Middle Period, thanks in part to the activities of popular preachers and storytellers.

The Challenge of Islam to Christians is David Pawson's most important and perhaps his most sobering - prophetic message to date. Moral decline and erosion of a sense of ultimate truth have created a spiritual vacuum in the United Kingdom. Pawson believes Islam is better equipped than the Church to move into that gap and it is far more likely to become the country's dominant religion in the future. This book unpacks and explains the background behind Pawson's claims. and - crucially - sets out a positive blueprint for the Church's response. Christians must rediscover and demonstrate to society the three qualities that make Christianity unique: Reality. Relationship and Righteousness. This book is essential reading for all Christians.