|
Encyclopedia of Islam
of the Orfalea Center for Global and International
Studies; Scott Marcus, associate professor of eth-
nomusicology; Kathleen Moore, associate profes-
sor of law and society; Nancy Gallagher, professor
of history; and Professors Dwight Reynolds, W.
Clark Roof, Catherine Albanese, and Richard
Hecht in religious studies. My approach to this
project was also guided by the humanism and
spirit of public service exemplified by our late
colleague Walter Capps and his wife, Lois. Over
the years, Richard C. Martin, Fredrick M. Denny,
Richard Eaton, Azim Nanji, Barbara Metcalf, Wil-
liam Shepherd, Steve Wasserstrom, Bruce B. Law-
rence, Gordon Newby, Jane D. McAuliffe, Zayn
Kassam, Tazim Kassam, and scholars and teachers
at other colleges and universities, too many to
mention by name, have also provided invaluable
inspiration, directly or indirectly.
My deep gratitude also goes to Kendall Busse,
Ph.D. student in religious studies, who provided
skilled editorial support and helpful feedback
along the way, and to several undergraduate
research assistants: Maria Reifel Saltzberg, Has-
san R. Elhaj, and Hassan Naveed. Their work was
funded by the Freshman Seminar Program at the
University of California, Santa Barbara. Through
the years, my undergraduate students have con-
sistently affirmed my belief that education is an
ongoing process with mutual benefits that extend
well beyond the classroom.
Funding provided by Fulbright-Hayes Group
Projects grants presented me with opportuni-
ties to accompany two groups of California K-12
teachers and administrators to Egypt in 2003 and
2004. I benefited greatly from our workshop ses-
sions, travel experiences, and the conversations we
shared in Egypt, which enriched my understand-
ing of the K-12 curriculum and the challenges our
teachers face in instructing young people about
unfamiliar religions, civilizations, and languages. I
am especially obliged to Karen Arter, Frank Stew-
art, and Paul and Ruth Ficken for their encourage-
ment and interest in this publication.
I am also grateful for the hospitality and
warmth extended to me by several cultural, inter-
faith, and religious organizations, including the
Turkish-American Pacifica Institute of Los Ange-
les and Orange Counties, the Interfaith Initiative
of Santa Barbara County, the University Religious
Center in Isla Vista, and the community of St.
Mark’s Parish Catholic Church in Isla Vista.
At Facts On File, I owe a great debt to Claudia
Schaab and J. Gordon Melton for valuable advice
and infinite patience in bringing the publication
to completion. Gordon graciously shared pho-
tographs of mosques taken during his travels
around the world.
Publishing this book would not have been
possible without the support of a wide circle of
family and friends extending from the United
States to Colombia (the land of my birth), Egypt,
and India. These include Shafik and Gilane, Galal
and Negwa, Amr and Janet, Mahmoud and Suhair,
Said and Soraya, Mehran and Nahid, Zaveeni,
and Viji and Sujata. Above all, I am indebted to
my wife, Magda, to whom this book is dedicated,
for her unwavering love and encouragement in
good times and bad, and to our sons Andrés and
Federico as they begin to follow their own paths
in the world.
xxi
Among the world’s religions, few have attained the
historical, cultural, and civilizational stature and
diversity that Islam has. Since the seventh cen-
tury, when it first emerged in the western region
of the Arabian Peninsula known as the Hijaz, it
has been continuously adapted and carried forth
by its adherents, who call themselves Muslims, to
new lands and peoples in the wider Middle East,
Africa, Asia, Europe, and, more recently, to the
Americas, Australia, and New Zealand. Indeed,
the new religio-historical syntheses brought about
by the back-and-forth interactions of Muslims and
non-Muslims, and of the many different cultures
to which they belong, have had significant influ-
ence for centuries, not only upon the religious
experience of a large part of humankind, but also
upon the development of philosophy, the arts and
sciences, and even the very languages we speak
and the foods we eat. European scholars eagerly
sought to acquire the wisdom achieved by Mus-
lims in the fields of philosophy, mathematics,
astronomy, and medicine during the Middle Ages.
The different Islamicate architectural styles devel-
oped in a wide variety of locales, ranging from
Spain to sub-Saharan Africa, India, Central Asia,
and Southeast Asia, were adapted by non-Muslims
in many parts of the world. Spanish settlers and
immigrants brought “Moorish” (Spanish-Islamic)
architectural styles to the New World, beginning
in the 16th century, which would later be adapted
by European and American architects for our
modern homes, hotels, cinemas, concert halls,
shopping centers, and amusement parks. Many of
our homes are now decorated with beautiful rugs
and carpets that bear intricate arabesque designs
from Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, or Kashmir. Coffee
and sugar, the favored beverages of many Ameri-
cans and Europeans, are both Arabic in origin and
were cultivated and enjoyed in Muslim lands well
before they reached the West.
Despite the record of some 14 centuries of
such achievements, knowledge about Islam and
Muslims has been very limited, especially in the
Americas. The modern study of Islam was mostly
relegated to a few elite universities until the
1980s, and it was hardly mentioned in social stud-
ies textbooks used by secondary school students
and teachers. What Americans knew of Muslims
was largely confined to those who had lived or
traveled in Muslim countries, met Muslim immi-
grants, or heard about famous African-American
Muslims like Malcolm X, the boxer Muhammad
Ali, or Karim Abdul Jabbar. What the average
person thought or imagined about the Near or
Middle East was based on the Arabian Nights
stories and motion picture images. The situation
introduction
K
K xxii
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: | 
