Acknowledgements; Introduction: What is Understanding?; 1. The Changing World of Islam; 2. Insiders and Outsiders; 3. The Rise of the Sociology of Islam; 4. Postmodernism, Globalisation and Religion; 5. Orientalism and Islam; 6. Islamophobia; 7. Feminism, Fertility and Piety; 8. The Problems of Positionality; 9. The Possibility of Dialogue; Index.