About The Book

Islam is the most maligned religion in the West. We have grown accustomed to assertions about Islam that appear almost daily in the media or in the statements of Western leaders that would be considered unacceptable and condemned as the bigoted and racist remarks that they are if they were made about any other major world religion.

The Western view of Islam is rooted in centuries of mistrust, ignorance, and stereotypical attitudes—the inherited biases of the pre-modern clash of civilizations. These attitudes are no longer viable or warranted given the immense interdependence shared between the West and the Muslims.

In addition, there is the very real presence in the West of millions of law-abiding Muslim citizens, now threatened and feared by large numbers of people who see them as adherents of a fierce and fanatical faith that demands of its followers' blind obedience to a system of belief rooted in hatred. The civilizational project will not be secure until there is mutual understanding between the three militant civilizations of the West, Islamdom, and China. Knowledge of Islam has, in effect, become a serious security issue in geopolitics.

It is to forward this mutual understanding that Zaytuna Institute commissioned this thoughtful and well-written work that beautifully and succinctly summarizes the core beliefs of the Muslim faith. This small book can do much to edify those concerned citizens in the West about the beauty and truth of Islam—and, by doing so, help guide the Western understanding of the religion from one based upon distortions to one rooted in authentic knowledge.

About Author:

Joseph E.B. Lumbard is an American Muslim who is currently a professor at Brandeis University where he holds the title of Assistant Professor of Classical Islam in the department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and Chair of the Islamic and Middle East Studies Program. He is a former Advisor for Interfaith Affairs to His Highness King Abdullah II of Jordan and the author, editor, and translator of several articles and books on topics of Islamic philosophy, Sufism, and Quranic Studies. He is also a frequent lecturer and has taken part in several inter-faith dialogues, among them the Common Word initiative.

A proponent of cross-cultural understanding, Dr. Lumbard has published several articles on comparative mysticism, Sufism, and Islamic philosophy has lectured in academic arenas around the world, participated in inter-faith dialogues, and appeared on several radio and television programs. He is also the founder and first director of the Islamic Research Institute.

Zaytuna College (Editor), the first Muslim liberal arts college in the United States, began in 1996 as Zaytuna Institute in Hayward, California, co-founded by Hamza Yusuf and Hesham Alalusi. During its early years in the San Francisco Bay Area, the institute, through its educational programs, publications, and productions, established an international reputation for its efforts to help revive Islam’s educational and intellectual legacy and to popularize traditional learning among Western Muslims.