Britannica Guide To The Islamic World

Exploring the beliefs, history and politics of Islam, The Britannica Guide to the Islamic World is a clear and unbiased reference resource, compiled by experts in the field. It introduces the ideas as well as the places at the centre of one of the most important religions of our time. Founded in the seventh century by the prophet Mohammed, Islam has now spread across the world and every culture. Exploring Islamic history, beliefs and scriptures, it will be an invaluable and comprehensive guide to Muslim faith. In addition, the Guide reveals the role that Islam plays today including the conflict in the Middle East, the rise of Islamism, and the divisions between the Sunni and Shi’ite sects. As the Islamic World becomes the focus of politicians and the media, it is more important than ever to have a reliable and accurate introduction to this controversial topic.

Founded by the Prophet Muhammad in seventh-century Arabia, Islam has grown to be one of the worlds largest and most influential religions, with over 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide today. This series tracks the long and illustrious history of the Islamic faith through the age of the caliphates, the Islamic golden age, the Ottoman Empire, and into the twenty-first century. It also examines the impact of Islamic beliefs and thought, literature, and art and architecture, providing a complete guide to this often-misunderstood religion.

"Beginning in the twelfth century, the migration of various Turkic peoples over a four-century period greatly influenced the political and cultural organization of the Islamic world. This book assesses various factors, including the Mongol incursions and the Crusades, during the period of expansion and renewal leading up to Ottoman rule. Also covered are the impacts of colonialism, decolonization, and globalization on Islamic societies. This in-depth, academic guide's exploration of the history of Islam through the present gives readers the tools they need to understand the politics and culture of, and the problems faced by, the Islamic world today."

"During his lifetime in the sixth-seventh centuries, the Prophet Muhammad built the foundations of what would become the second-largest religion in the world. This comprehensive guide presents the history of Islam, beginning with the agrarian prehistory of Afro-Eurasia and the rise of Arabian city-states. It then offers a biographical treatment of Muhammad, followed by an assessment of the spread of Islam, and its splintering into diverse factions, that occurred in the centuries following Muhammad's death. Resources, including a timeline, help readers contextualize and connect the various regional developments during Islam's early period."

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Just before dawn one winter's morning, a hijacked jetliner explodes above the English Channel. Through the falling debris, two figures, Gibreel Farishta, the biggest star in India, and Saladin Chamcha, an expatriate returning from his first visit to Bombay in fifteen years, plummet from the sky, washing up on the snow-covered sands of an English beach, and proceed through a series of metamorphoses, dreams, and revelations.