Two Billion Caliphs

Explains the attraction of Muslims to their faith, and discusses the challenges contemporary Islam confronts, and how we might imagine an Islamic theology and identity ready to face tomorrow Islam is often associated with and limited to the worst of the world—extremism, obscurantism, misogyny, bigotry. So why would so many people associate with such a fundamentalist faith? Two Billion Caliphs advocates for a way of being Muslim in the world, ready for today and prepared for tomorrow. Unlike stale summaries, which restrict themselves to facts and figures, Haroon Moghul presents a deeply Muslim perspective on the world, providing Islamic answers to universal questions: Who are we? What are we doing here? What happens to us when we die? And from description, Moghul moves to prescription, aspiring to something outrageous and audacious. Two Billion Caliphs describes what Islam has been and what it is, who its heroes are, what its big ideas are, but not only to tell you about the past or the present, but to speak to the future. Two Billion Caliphs finds that Islam was a religion of intimacy, a faith rooted in and reaching for love, and that it could be and should be again. Fulfilling that destiny depends on the efforts of Muslims to reclaim their faith, rebuild their strength, and reimagine their future, on their own terms. Two Billion Caliphs offers Muslim thoughts for the age ahead, to create an interpretation Islam of and for days to come, the kind of religion the world’s Muslims deserve, with echoes of the confident faith Muslims once had. The destiny of Islam, then, is not, as so many prefer to argue, a reformation. It is a counter-reformation. A restoration of what once was.

Explains the attraction of Muslims to their faith, and discusses the challenges contemporary Islam confronts, and how we might imagine an Islamic theology and identity ready to face tomorrow Islam is often associated with and limited to the worst of the world—extremism, obscurantism, misogyny, bigotry. So why would so many people associate with such a fundamentalist faith? Two Billion Caliphs advocates for a way of being Muslim in the world, ready for today and prepared for tomorrow. Unlike stale summaries, which restrict themselves to facts and figures, Haroon Moghul presents a deeply Muslim perspective on the world, providing Islamic answers to universal questions: Who are we? What are we doing here? What happens to us when we die? And from description, Moghul moves to prescription, aspiring to something outrageous and audacious. Two Billion Caliphs describes what Islam has been and what it is, who its heroes are, what its big ideas are, but not only to tell you about the past or the present, but to speak to the future. Two Billion Caliphs finds that Islam was a religion of intimacy, a faith rooted in and reaching for love, and that it could be and should be again. Fulfilling that destiny depends on the efforts of Muslims to reclaim their faith, rebuild their strength, and reimagine their future, on their own terms. Two Billion Caliphs offers Muslim thoughts for the age ahead, to create an interpretation Islam of and for days to come, the kind of religion the world’s Muslims deserve, with echoes of the confident faith Muslims once had. The destiny of Islam, then, is not, as so many prefer to argue, a reformation. It is a counter-reformation. A restoration of what once was.

A searing portrait of Muslim life in the West, this “profound and intimate” memoir captures one man’s struggle to forge an American Muslim identity (Washington Post) Haroon Moghul was thrust into the spotlight after 9/11, becoming an undergraduate leader at New York University’s Islamic Center forced into appearances everywhere: on TV, before interfaith audiences, in print. Moghul was becoming a prominent voice for American Muslims even as he struggled with his relationship to Islam. In high school he was barely a believer and entirely convinced he was going to hell. He sometimes drank. He didn’t pray regularly. All he wanted was a girlfriend. But as he discovered, it wasn’t so easy to leave religion behind. To be true to himself, he needed to forge a unique American Muslim identity that reflected his beliefs and personality. How to Be a Muslim reveals a young man coping with the crushing pressure of a world that fears Muslims, struggling with his faith and searching for intellectual forebears, and suffering the onset of bipolar disorder. This is the story of the second-generation immigrant, of what it’s like to lose yourself between cultures and how to pick up the pieces.

You Were Lost Long Before&You Came Here Because You Had Gone Everywhere Else. The Order Of Light Is One Week In The Life Of A Young Pakistani-American. The Son Of Wealthy Parents, He Attends A Prestigious American University And Enjoys The Comforts And Privileges That Come With It. He Is Also Miserable. In The Summer Of 2001, He And His Indian Room-Mate Haris Enroll In A Programme At A Language Institute In Cairo To Study Arabic And The Qur An, So That They Might Better Understand Their Religion. Their Project Fails In Almost Every Respect, Nothing Quite Bores The Protagonist As Much As Attending Prayers Or Listening To Sermons. But Having Come From A Family Where Every Day He Was Told That Islam Must Come First, The Discovery That He Doesn T Care To Lead An Islamic Way Of Life-And That Much Of The Muslim World Doesn T Seem To Want To, Either-Disturbs Him Terribly. Frustrated With His Spiritual Lethargy, He Finds It Easier To Run. He Runs Away From His Apartment Every Other Night, Making Haris Sick With Worry. One Such Night, He Finds Himself Lost In The Winding Streets Of Old Cairo. Desperate, He Takes Shelter In A Tiny, Dilapidated Mosque Where He Chances Upon Something Altogether Unexpected: Five Men, Members Of A Self-Declared Order Of Light, Who Claim They Are From The Future; Descendants Of Salah Al-Din S Twelfth-Century Kurdish Retinue. They Have Travelled Back In Time To Save The World From A Horrific Global Conflict That Will Ultimately Wreak Havoc On The Islamic People. The Problem With The Modern Age, The Order Proclaims, Is That Man Has Made Himself An Idol, And To Repent This Sin, Man Must Commit Suicide In Order To Free His Soul. The Young Pakistani Finds Himself Joining In Their Discussions, Captivated By Their Teachings. But The More Questions He Asks Them The More He Ends Up Questioning Himself. He Wants To Forget About The Order But Seems To Bump Into Its Members Wherever He Goes. Are They Following Him? Are They Trying To Win Him Over? Then The Suicides Begin, And Cairo Is Plunged Into Panic And Destruction.

“Ed Husain has become one of the most vital Muslim voices in the world. The House of Islam could very well be his magnum opus.” -Reza Aslan, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Zealot “This should be compulsory reading.” -Peter Frankopan, author of the international bestseller The Silk Roads Today, Islam is to many in the West an alien force, with Muslims held in suspicion. Failure to grasp the inner workings of religion and geopolitics has haunted American foreign policy for decades and has been decisive in the new administration's controversial orders. The intricacies and shadings must be understood by the West not only to build a stronger, more harmonious relationship between the two cultures, but also for greater accuracy in predictions as to how current crises, such as the growth of ISIS, will develop and from where the next might emerge. The House of Islam addresses key questions and points of disconnection. What are the roots of the conflict between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims that is engulfing Pakistan and the Middle East? Does the Koran encourage the killing of infidels? The book thoughtfully explores the events and issues that have come from and contributed to the broadening gulf between Islam and the West, from the United States' overthrow of Iran's first democratically elected leader to the emergence of ISIS, from the declaration of a fatwa on Salman Rushdie to the attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo. Authoritative and engaging, Ed Husain leads us clearly and carefully through the nuances of Islam and its people, taking us back to basics to contend that the Muslim world need not be a stranger to the West, nor our enemy, but our peaceable allies.

"In 2012, the year 1433 of the Muslim calendar, the Islamic population throughout the world was estimated at approximately a billion and a half, representing about one-fifth of humanity. In geographical terms, Islam occupies the center of the world, stretching like a big belt across the globe from east to west."--P. vii.

Analyzes Muslim countries' contemporary problems, particularly violence, authoritarianism, and underdevelopment, comparing their historical levels of development with Western Europe.

A fascinating journey into Islam's diverse history of ideas, making an argument for an "Islamic Enlightenment" today In Reopening Muslim Minds, Mustafa Akyol, senior fellow at the Cato Institute and opinion writer for The New York Times, both diagnoses “the crisis of Islam” in the modern world, and offers a way forward. Diving deeply into Islamic theology, and also sharing lessons from his own life story, he reveals how Muslims lost the universalism that made them a great civilization in their earlier centuries. He especially demonstrates how values often associated with Western Enlightenment — freedom, reason, tolerance, and an appreciation of science — had Islamic counterparts, which sadly were cast aside in favor of more dogmatic views, often for political ends. Elucidating complex ideas with engaging prose and storytelling, Reopening Muslim Minds borrows lost visions from medieval Muslim thinkers such as Ibn Rushd (aka Averroes), to offer a new Muslim worldview on a range of sensitive issues: human rights, equality for women, freedom of religion, or freedom from religion. While frankly acknowledging the problems in the world of Islam today, Akyol offers a clear and hopeful vision for its future.

Von Kremer sC ulturgeaehichte des Orients will be welcome to all English-knowing lovers of Islamic history and culture. Von Kremer still stands unsurpassed. He has had no competitors; he alone occupies the field. His researches patient, laborious, thorough have illumined every aspect of Muslim life. He is the most trustworthy interpreter of the social, political, economic, literary, and legal problems of I slam. The volume before us opens with an account of the death of the Prophet, and the trouble that arose over the question of succession. Paction fought faction. Heavy banks of cloud loomed up menacingly on the political horizon of A rabia. The spirit of tribal faction theretofore checked and kept in restraint asserted itself; and, in its very infancy, I slam was threatened with division, disunion, ruin and disruption. Omar saw the danger, and felt the need of prompt and vigorous action. He did as a practical and sagacious statesman would do. He settled the question of succession at a stroke ;and with that the clouds rolled away, and the danger which had confronted I slam was at once averted. -- From https://www.amazon.co.uk (Sep. 21, 2016).