Journalist Khalid M. Amayreh points out the Major Contradictions in the Shiite Imami Religion in his book My Story with the Shiites. He says the real contentious issue between Muslims and Shiites is not Yazid or Mu’awiya, Hassan or Hussein, Fadak or al-“Zahraa’s limb,” the Karbulaa tragedy or the so-called Raziyatul Khamis (Thursday’s calamity), Hadithul Manzela or the Saqifa of Bani Sa’ada, or the Ghadeer Khom event. In fact, these issues can be reduced to mere “red herrings” used by the Shiites to discredit Islam and undermine the entire Muhammadan message. This timely and eye-opening book clears up misconceptions as it tells the truth about Shiites and Shiism.

In this gripping narrative history, Lesley Hazleton tells the tragic story at the heart of the ongoing rivalry between the Sunni and Shia branches of Islam, a rift that dominates the news now more than ever. Even as Muhammad lay dying, the battle over who would take control of the new Islamic nation had begun, beginning a succession crisis marked by power grabs, assassination, political intrigue, and passionate faith. Soon Islam was embroiled in civil war, pitting its founder's controversial wife Aisha against his son-in-law Ali, and shattering Muhammad’s ideal of unity. Combining meticulous research with compelling storytelling, After the Prophet explores the volatile intersection of religion and politics, psychology and culture, and history and current events. It is an indispensable guide to the depth and power of the Shia–Sunni split.

A thought-provoking, original appraisal of the meaning of religion by the host of public radio's On Being Krista Tippett, widely becoming known as the Bill Moyers of radio, is one of the country's most intelligent and insightful commentators on religion, ethics, and the human spirit. With this book, she draws on her own life story and her intimate conversations with both ordinary and famous figures, including Elie Wiesel, Karen Armstrong, and Thich Nhat Hanh, to explore complex subjects like science, love, virtue, and violence within the context of spirituality and everyday life. Her way of speaking about the mysteries of life-and of listening with care to those who endeavor to understand those mysteries--is nothing short of revolutionary.

The Ottoman Empire was a hub of flourishing intellectual fervor, geopolitical power, and enlightened pluralistic rule. At the helm of its ascent was the omnipotent Sultan Selim I (1470-1520), who, with the aid of his extraordinarily gifted mother, Gülbahar, hugely expanded the empire, propelling it onto the world stage. Aware of centuries of European suppression of Islamic history, Alan Mikhail centers Selim's Ottoman Empire and Islam as the very pivots of global history, redefining such world-changing events as Christopher Columbus's voyages - which originated, in fact, as a Catholic jihad that would come to view Native Americans as somehow "Moorish" - the Protestant Reformation, the transatlantic slave trade, and the dramatic Ottoman seizure of the Middle East and North Africa. Drawing on previously unexamined sources and written in gripping detail, Mikhail's groundbreaking account vividly recaptures Selim's life and world. An historical masterwork, God's Shadow radically reshapes our understanding of a world we thought we knew.A leading historian of his generation, Alan Mikhail, Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History at Yale University, has reforged our understandings of the past through his previous three prize-winning books on the history of Middle East.

These narratives recount what it means to be a research student at an Australian university. They unpack the complex pathways that have lead the authors to this place, the early imaginings, the attempts to achieve the dream and the challenges that come with that achievement. These students bring a range of life skills and experiences to their studies and need to balance competing financial, family and employment related demands on their time and attention. For the international students whose voices dominate this text, there are also barriers of culture, language and physical and emotional dislocation. Students from Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Iraq and Romania recount the personal and academic challenges they have faced and the ways in which they have struggled to find a way of being in academia which both accommodates their sense of self and allows them to be recognised as researchers in the international arena. An Australian student adds her voice to the collection. Their stories all combine the intensely personal with the academic. There is the joy of finding libraries full of books, of making friends with strangers, of managing to be student, partner and parent. There is pride in the achievement of children coping with school and gratitude for the support of family and fellow students. There is also developing confidence in their ability to contribute to research in the international arena and increasing authority in the ownership of their research. As a collection these narratives offer insight into both the student travellers and the academic and personal journeys being taken. Cover photo: International academia, by Erika Akerlund, Hobart, Australia

This book describes what Shiism means to those who actually practice it and serves as both an excellent introduction to the subject and an original work of scholarship.

Little is known in the West about the division of the Islamic world into Shiites and Sunnites and even less about the stratification of these two groups, with most of the attention going to the Sunnites. Moosa's comprehensive study of the origins and cultural aspects of the different extremist, or Ghulat, Shiite sects in the Middle East is a ground-breaking work. These sects whose 'extremism' is essentially religious are generally a peaceful people and, except for the Nusayris of Syria, are not political activists.