Unfolding Islam

This book introduces and explains the essential religious concepts of Islam to nonMuslim readers and shows how Islam nd evolved over the course of time. Set against the social background of western Arabia, the narrative centers on the Quran and the life of the Prophet Muhammad. The differences which arose between Sunni Muslims and Shiites, Sufis and literalists, reformists and fundamentalists, are also explained. Though the book is written with the nonspecialist in mind, specialists will find new contributions to such topics as the first writing down of the Quran, holy war and Islamic demography.