Preface Acknowledgments Note on Transliteration and Dates 1 Arabia: The Cradle of Islam 2 Muhammad and the Beginnings of Islam: The Making of the Muslim Community 3 After Muhammad: The Rightly Guided Caliphs and the Conquests 4 The Murder of 'Uthman, the Fitna Wars, and the Rise and Consolidation of the Umayyad Dynasty 5 The Principal Source of Islam: The Qur'an 6 The Prophetic Hadíth and Sunna and the Emergence of the Shari'a 7 The Problem of the Just Ruler and the First Divisions Within the Community 8 The 'Abbásid Revolution and Beyond 9 Islamic Scholarship Under the 'Abbásids: The Rise and Development of the Schools of Law 10 Islamic Scholarship Under the 'Abbásids: Theological Debates and Schools of Thought 11 Twelver Shi'ism and Zaydism 12 Shi'ism as a Revolutionary Movement: The Isma'ilis 13 Ascetic and Mystical Movement in Islam: Sufism 14 Intellectual Struggles in Premodern Islam: Philosophy Versus Theology 15 Transmission and Conservation of Knowledge: 'Ulamá' , Mádrasas, and Sufi Lodges 16 The Basic Beliefs and Practices of Islam: Islamic Life Cycle 17 Islamic Art and Religious Architecture (Mosque) 18 Women in Islamic Societies 19 Islam and the West 20 Islam in the Gunpowder Empires: The World of Islam Faces Modernity and European Colonialism 21 Renewal and Reform in Islam: The Emergence of Islamic Modernism and Reformism 22 Islam as a Political Force and Vehicle of Opposition 23 Islam Reinterpreted: Major Trends in Islamic Thought Today 24 The Ideology and Practice of Globalized Jihadism Bibliography Index.