William Shepard – författare

Public interest in the religion of Islam and in Muslim communities in recent years has generated an impetus for Western Universities to establish an array of Institutes and programs dedicated to the study of Islam. Despite the growth in number of programs dedicated to this study, very little attention has been paid to the appropriate shape of such programs and the assumptions that ought to underlie such a study.The Teaching and Study of Islam in Western Universities attempts to address two central questions that arise through the teaching of Islam. Firstly, what relation is there between the study of the religion of Islam and the study of those cultures that have been shaped by that religion? Secondly, what is the appropriate public role of a scholar of Islam? After extensive discussion of these questions, the authors then continue to address the wider issues raised for the academic community having to negotiate between competing cultural and philosophical demands.This edited collection provides new perspectives on the study of Islam in Western Institutions and will be an invaluable resource for students of Education and Religion, in particular Islamic Studies.

Public interest in the religion of Islam and in Muslim communities in recent years has generated an impetus for Western Universities to establish an array of Institutes and programs dedicated to the study of Islam. Despite the growth in number of programs dedicated to this study, very little attention has been paid to the appropriate shape of such programs and the assumptions that ought to underlie such a study.The Teaching and Study of Islam in Western Universities attempts to address two central questions that arise through the teaching of Islam. Firstly, what relation is there between the study of the religion of Islam and the study of those cultures that have been shaped by that religion? Secondly, what is the appropriate public role of a scholar of Islam? After extensive discussion of these questions, the authors then continue to address the wider issues raised for the academic community having to negotiate between competing cultural and philosophical demands.This edited collection provides new perspectives on the study of Islam in Western Institutions and will be an invaluable resource for students of Education and Religion, in particular Islamic Studies.

This autobiography tells of the early years of a person who, in later life, would become one of Egypt's most influential radical Islamist thinkers. This memoir - a document of substantial historical value - tells of Sayyid Qutb's childhood in the village of Musha in Upper Egypt. The book documents the era between 1912 and 1918 - a decade of immensely important influence on the creation of modern Egypt. Written with much tenderness toward childhood memories, it has become a classic modern Arabic autobiography. The book offers a clear picture of Egyptian village life in the early twentieth century, its customs and lore, educational system, religious festivals, relations with the central government, and the struggle to modernize and retain its identity. Translators John Calvert and William Shepard have captured the beauty and intensity of Qutb's prose in their rendering of the work into English. Their masterly introduction situates the book in its cultural environment and Sayyid Qutb in his historical context. Although Qutb (1906-1966) is not a household name in the United States, he is well known throughout the Islamic World as the foundational thinker for a significant portion of the contemporary Muslim intelligentsia, including such non-Arab countries as Pakistan and Malaysia. In 1965 he published his famous his famous book, Mallem Fittareek (Milestones) after which he was accused of conspiring against the Egyptian president, Abdul Nassar and arrested. He was tried and sentenced to death. A Child From the Village was written just prior to Qutb's conversion to the Islamist cause and reflects his concerns for social justice that would eventually express itself in Islamic terms. There has been an increase in the general public's interest in Qutb since 9/11: he has received attention in publications such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Guardian, to name a few.

This tender memoir chronicles the early years of Sayyid Qutb, one of Egypt’s most influential radical Islamist thinkers and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.