In this fascinating and useful book, Perry Anderson interviews the noted scholar of Islam Suleiman Mourad about the Qur'an and the history of the faith. Mourad elucidates the different stages in Islam s development: the Qur'an as scripture and the history of its codification; Muhammad and the significance of his Sunna and Hadith; the Sunni-Shi'i split and the formation of various sects; the development of jihad; the transition to modernity and the challenges of reform; and the complexities of Islam in the modern world. He also looks at Wahhabism from its inception in the eighteenth century to its present-day position as the movement that galvanized modern Salafism and gave rise to militant Islam or jihadism.
The Mosaic of Islam reveals both the richness and the fissures of the faith.
