Western Muslims and the Future of Islam - Hardcover

Ramadan, Tariq

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019517111X ISBN 13: 9780195171112

Publisher: OUP USA, 2003

Synopsis

In a Western world suddenly acutely interested in Islam, one question has been repeatedly heard above the din: where are the Muslim reformers? With this ambitious volume, Tariq Ramadan firmly establishes himself as one of Europe's leading thinkers and one of Islam's most innovative and important voices. As the number of Muslims living in the West grows, the question of what it means to be a Western Muslim becomes increasingly important to the futures of both Islam and the West. While the media are focused on radical Islam, Ramadan claims, a silent revolution is sweeping Islamic communities in the West, as Muslims actively seek ways to live in harmony with their faith within a Western context. French, English, German, and American Muslims--women as well as men--are reshaping their religion into one that is faithful to the principles of Islam, dressed in European and American cultures, and definitively rooted in Western societies. Ramadan's goal is to create an independent Western Islam, anchored not in the traditions of Islamic countries but in the cultural reality of the West. He begins by offering a fresh reading of Islamic sources, interpreting them for a Western context and demonstrating how a new understanding of universal Islamic principles can open the door to integration into Western societies. He then shows how these principles can be put to practical use. Ramadan contends that Muslims can-indeed must-be faithful to their principles while participating fully in the civic life of Western secular societies. Grounded in scholarship and bold in its aims, Western Muslims and the Future of Islam offers a striking vision of a new Muslim Identity, one which rejects once and for all the idea that Islam must be defined in opposition to the West.

About this title

Review

... nothing less than a comprehensive rethinking of the Islamic tradition to accommodate the realities facing European Muslims and their counterparts in the North American diaspora. Ramadan's approach is systematic and uncompromising. (Times Literary Supplement)

This timely book provides a refreshing contrast to much Islamist as well as Islamophobic writing on the question of Muslim minorities ... Although [Ramadan's] arguments are shaped by the particular context in which Western Muslims are located, they have a broader relevance for Muslim minorities in general. (The Muslim World Book Review)

This book is a very welcome contribution to the growing literature on the subject of Muslim minorities. It offers refreshingly new perspectives on a range of issues that are of relevance not only to Western Muslims but also to Muslim minorities elsewhere and, indeed, to Muslim majority groups as well, as they struggle to engage with the difficult demands of modernity. (The Muslim World Book Review)

Western Muslims and the Future of Islam is must reading for Muslims and non-Muslims alike. (John L. Esposito)

To westerners he offers an alternative Muslim to face the mad mullahs and gun-toting charismatic we read so much about today. (THES)

Thanks partly to Ramadan, Islam is on its way to becoming an integral part of Europe's religious landscape. (Time Magazine)

The work of Ramadan will take is place in the annals of Islamic thought. (Le Monde Diplomatique)

About the Author

Tariq Ramadan is Professor of Philosophy at the College of Geneva and Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He is the author of numerous books, including To Be a European Muslim. In 2000 he was named one of Time's 100 most important innovators for the 21st century.

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP USA
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 019517111X
• ISBN 13: 9780195171112
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 284