Document Information
3,341 Reads | 2 Comments
Description
Preface
My intention in this short book is to offer an introduction to the
jihad and, more specifically, to the origins of the jihad within the
broader history of Islam. I have not provided a systematic overview
of the doctrine of jihad, which would have required a longer book
of an entirely different character. Nor have I given a comprehensive
summary of the history of Islam, or even of its early history,
as seen from the perspective of the jihad. Instead I have worked
with two goals in mind.
My first goal is to provide the reader with an introduction to
some of the most important debates, both premodern and modern,
over the jihad. I think of this reader as someone who may or
may not have basic knowledge of the political and religious history
of the Islamic world, but who wishes to find a way through this
particular terrain. I have tried to give this reader a sense of what
happened—the structure and the most important particulars of
historical events—without, however, simply rehashing the history
of Islam, which is available now in a number of good books in
English. I have tried to keep my analytic focus on the jihad, even
as I touched on other broad historical topics, and even as I outlined
some of the debates regarding methods and approaches that have
gone on among modern specialists in the study of Islamic society,
religion, and culture. In this way, I have sought to acquaint the
reader with the most important ways in which the jihad has been
identified and approached, both in the past and in the present. I
have tried to identify the most important and challenging problematics
regarding this theme which, as everyone now knows, has
far more than academic importance.
221 Pages
Related Documents
Related Documents
Flag this document
Rising
