Received an honorable mention at the 2016 British-Kuwait Friendship Society Book Prize

Key 'hot-button' contemporary issues in Islam, often at the centre of public scrutiny, are the focus of this book. By placing the discussion of topics such as the Sharia, jihad, the caliphate, women's status and interfaith relations within a longer historical framework, Contemporary Issues in Islam reveals their multiple interpretations and contested applications over time.

Most public - and occasionally academic - discourses in the West present the Islamic tradition as unchanging and therefore unable to respond to the modern world. Such an ahistorical approach can foster the belief that Muslim-majority and Western societies are destined to clash. This book reveals instead the diversity and transformations within Islamic thought over time. Focusing on this internal diversity permits us to appreciate the scriptural and intellectual resources available within the Islamic tradition for responding to the challenges of modernity, even as this tradition interrogates and shapes modernity itself.

About the series: The New Edinburgh Islamic Surveys is a well-established and highly regarded series of over 30 volumes introducing key areas within Islamic Studies. Each book is written by an expert in the field, offering an overview of its subject as well as presenting original thinking, making it suitable for students and academics alike.