Preface and Acknowledgments

Summary

Work on the first edition of this volume began nearly a decade ago. My intention then was to portray the foundations, teachings and practices of the Islamic tradition in a manner which would provide the reader with insight into both the rich and complex tradition itself and the ways it has encountered the modern world and evolved along with it. That narrative of the long transformation of Muslim societies began in the eighteenth century and ended in the early 1980s following upon the Iranian revolution of 1979. The narrative was naturally incomplete as the historical transformation was by then, even as it is today, an ongoing, unfinished process.

Then 9/11 occurred. As a result many people said, “everything has changed,” “nothing will ever be the same.” What that reflected in practice, at least among populations living in Europe and North America, was fear for the immediate present and, as time has passed, a continued, perhaps growing, anxiety for the future – especially in the wake of further terrorist attacks in Bali, Kenya, and Moscow. Yet, driven from most peoples' minds was a memory of the years immediately preceding 9/11. At best, a highly selective recollection of events occurred. This included the traumatic seizure of western hostages in Iran and Lebanon or, more positively, the collapse of the Soviet Union that ended the Cold War with the West or the triumph over Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War following his invasion of Kuwait.