Books like Introducing Islam by William Shepard

Islam is a world-wide religion embracing many cultures and nations, comprising today nearly 900 million persons. Muslims believe that God (Allah) revealed to the Prophet Muhammad guidance for proper conduct in this world and salvation in the next. These revelations are contained in the Muslims' scripture, the Quran. From modest beginnings in Mecca fourteen centuries ago, Islam spread rapidly throughout the Middle East and then into southeast Asia. This book is the story of the Muslims' beliefs and practices as they developed during the formative period. Separate chapters are devoted to a description of the sacred law (the shariah), theology, and mysticism. Attention is given also to the beliefs and practices of the important Shiah minority of Muslims. The story comes down to the present day, recounting the period over the last two centuries during which Muslims have been challenged by Western hegemony and have sought to establish a modern sense of self-identity. This comprehensive, wide-ranging and up-to-date treatment of one of the world's most dynamic and vital religions constitutes essential reading for all those interested in Islamic history and culture.

Jonathan Berkey's book surveys the religious history of the peoples of the Near East from roughly 600 to 1800 CE. The opening chapter examines the religious scene in the Near East in late antiquity, and the religious traditions which preceded Islam. Subsequent chapters investigate Islam's first century and the beginnings of its own traditions, the 'classical' period from the accession of the Abbasids to the rise of the Buyid amirs, and thereafter the emergence of new forms of Islam in the middle period. Throughout, close attention is paid to the experiences of Jews and Christians, as well as Muslims. The book stresses that Islam did not appear all at once, but emerged slowly, as part of a prolonged process whereby it was differentiated from other religious traditions and, indeed, that much that we take as characteristic of Islam is in fact the product of the medieval period.

"The Heirs of the Prophet Muhammad is a saga of ambition, achievement, self-sacrificing nobility and blood rivalry, and it also sheds light on some of the complexities of our modern world. For within this fifty-year span of conquest and empire-building, Barnaby Rogerson identifies the seeds of discord that destroyed the unity of Islam, and traces the roots of the schism between Sunni and Shia Muslims to the rivalry of the two people who best knew and loved the Prophet: his cousin and son-in-law Ali, and his wife Aisha." "The Heirs of the Prophet Muhammad recounts the lives of the handful of individuals - the first four Caliphs, the Prophet's widows and the conquering generals - who led and influenced Islam after the death of Muhammad. Their achievements are chronicled, but so too are the conflicting ambitions that led to civil war. So that although an empire was forged, in the process Muhammad's own family would be disinherited, his grandson murdered, the revered temple of God at Mecca, the Kaaba, burned to the ground, and the first copy of the Koran stained with the blood of a Caliph."--Jacket.

An updated textbook that traces Islam’s history from its founder Mohammed through classical developments, modern interactions with the West, and contemporary issues such as women, democratization, and human rights, with focus on key concepts, art, and culture.