Iconoclastic and fiercely rational, the European Enlightenment witnessed the birth of modern Western society and thought. Reason was sacrosanct and for the first time, religious belief and institutions were open to widespread criticism. In this groundbreaking book, Ziad Elmarsafy challenges this accepted wisdom to argue that religion was still hugely influential in the era. But the religion in question wasn t Christianity it was Islam. Charting the history of Qur anic translations in Europe during the 18th and early 19th Centuries, Elmarsafy shows that a number of key enlightenment figures...

Edward Said continues to fascinate and stir controversy, nowhere more than with his classic work Orientalism. Debating Orientalism brings a rare mix of perspectives to an ongoing polemic. Contributors from a range of disciplines take stock of the book's impact and appraise its significance in contemporary cultural politics and philosophy.

Sufism in Western Literature, Art and Thought explores the many dialogues and intersections between the language and ideas of Sufism and the key figures of 20th- and 21st-century art, literature and philosophy. Focussing on the many exchanges and the rich relationships that these intersections have created from the modernist to the postmodernist period, the book covers such writers, thinkers and artists as Jacques Derrida, Joris-Karl Huysmans, Salman Rushdie, Doris Lessing and Philip K. Dick. Through seven chapters operating as snapshots focused on literature, deconstruction, art,...