Description
Book SynopsisReflecting the diversity of Islam, this collection focuses on the presence of Muslims in countries outside the traditionally conceived heartlands of the Islamic world. The history of the arrival of Islam in such countries and the nature of the way in which Islam is practised in such places is the thematic focus of the materials selected for inclusion.
Today, the community of Muslims around the globe looks to the Arab world (and Iran) as a source of identity and authority. While this is driven as much by finances as by religious ideology, it does create a sense of there being a central Islamic world and a diaspora' which can be separated and considered. This separation may also be considered a historical phenomenon: the core Islamic world' came into existence as a result of the early military expansion of the Arabs up to about 750CE; after that point, the spread of Islam occurred by different and more gradual means (often influenced by trade especially). Both of these ways of c
