Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents:

Religion and common life in the pre-Islamic Near East. Early civilizations and the origins of Judaism and Christianity ; Pre-Islamic Arabia : beliefs, values, way of life --
The coming of Islam : the prophet, his people, and God's religion. Muhammad and the early Muslim community ; The Arab conquests and Islamic rule : the struggle for a unified umma --
The Islamic religious system. The basic beliefs and worship practices of Islam ; The nature and function of the Qur'an ; The prophet's Sunna as in the Ḥadīth ; Muslim creeds and theologies : their purposes and varieties ; Law and the state in classical Islamic formulations --
The Sufi way of mysticism and fellowship. Islamic mysticism and the disciplines of esoteric piety ; Masters and disciples : the forms and functions of Sufi orders --
Patterns of Islamic personal and communal life. The Islamic life cycle and the family ; Ideals and realities of Islamic community life --
Islam in the modern world. Major movements and trends in renewal and reform ; Three forms of Islamic revival: "fundamentalism," feminism, and establishing the umma in North America ; Whither Islam and the Muslims? : progressive Muslims with a vision of an "Islam without borders."