Description: In this updated and expanded edition of The Search for Beauty in Islam, Abou El Fadl offers eye-opening and enlightening insights into the contemporary realities of the current state of Islam and the West. Through a "conference of the books," an imagined conference of Muslim i...
Review Quotes:
"El Fadl attempts to offer interpretations that are humanistic and accommodating to modern values, yet simultaneously challenging for traditionalist scholars and preachers." --An-Chi Hoh Dianu, The Library Quarterly
"This highly original book is in part a dialogue with Muslim scholars in the past, and, in part, a hymn to an enthralling vision that 'beauty' is to bring life to the truth of the Prophet. The dialogue shows the enormous breadth of [the author's] reading in classic works of learning by Muslims, and his vision suggests a new spiritual esthetic, which is both inspiring and challenging." --Roy Parviz Mottahedeh, Gurney Professor of History, Harvard University "Khaled Abou El Fadl is emerging as a major Muslim voice for the twenty-first century. Conference of the Books is an excellent introduction to the ideas, insights, and reflections of this important scholar of Islam and Islamic law, author, and poet." --John L. Esposito, Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University "Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl, the most important scholar writing on Islamic jurisprudence and its development in the American context today, sets a high standard here for legal discourse and practice among North American Muslims." --Karen Leonard, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Irvine "Each independent essay may be read in any order, but collectively they illustrate richness and diversity." --Charles C. Kolb, National Endowment for the Humanities, Religious Studies Review