The Search for Beauty in Islam: A Conference of the Books
El Fadl attempts to offer interpretations that are humanistic and accommodating to modern values, yet simultaneously challenging for traditionalist scholars and preachers. (An-Chi Hoh DianuThe Library Quarterly)This highly original book is in part a dialogue with Muslim scholars in the past, and, in part, a hymn to an enthralling vision that 'beauty' is to bring life to the truth of the Prophet. The dialogue shows the enormous breadth of [the author's] reading in classic works of learning by Muslims, and his vision suggests a new spiritual esthetic, which is both inspiring and challenging. (Roy Parviz Mottahedeh, Gurney Professor of History, Harvard University)Khaled Abou El Fadl is emerging as a major Muslim voice for the twenty-first century.Conference of the Booksis an excellent introduction to the ideas, insights, and reflections of this important scholar of Islam and Islamic law, author, and poet. (John L. Esposito, Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University)Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl, the most important scholar writing on Islamic jurisprudence and its development in the American context today, sets a high standard here for legal discourse and practice among North American Muslims. (Karen Leonard, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Irvine)Each independent essay may be read in any order, but collectively they illustrate richness and diversity. (Charles C. Kolb, National Endowment for the Humanities, Religious Studies Review)