The Search for Beauty in Islam: A Conference of the Books [Paperback]

Khaled Abou El Fadl (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 5, 2005

Khaled Abou El Fadl is a classically-trained Islamic jurist, an American lawyer and law professor, and one of the most important Islamic thinkers today. In this updated and expanded edition of The Search for Beauty in Islam, Abou El Fadl offers eye-opening and enlightening insights into the contemporary realities of the current state of Islam and the West. Through a "conference of the books," an imagined conference of Muslim intellects from centuries past, Abou El Fadl examines the ugliness that has come to plague Muslim realities and attempts to reclaim what he maintains is a core moral value in Islam-the value of beauty. Does Islamic law allow, or even call for, the gruesome acts of ugliness that have become so commonly associated with Islam today? Has Islam become a religion devoid of beauty, compassion and love?

Based on actual cases, this book tackles different issues and problems in each chapter through a post-9/11 lens, discussing such topics as marriage, divorce, parental rights, the position of women, the veil, sexual abuse, wife-beating, terrorism, bigotry, morality, law, and the role of tradition. Abou El Fadl argues that the rekindling of the forgotten value of beauty is essential for Muslims today to take back what has been lost to the fundamentalist forces that have denigrated their religion.

Editorial Reviews

Review

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 Dianu The 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 )

Khaled Abou El Fadl is emerging as a major Muslim voice for the twenty-first century. Conference of the Books is an excellent introduction to the ideas, insights, and reflections of this important scholar of Islam and Islamic law, author, and poet. (John L. Esposito )

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 )

Each independent essay may be read in any order, but collectively they illustrate richness and diversity. (Charles C. Kolb )

About the Author

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl is Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law where he teaches Islamic law, immigration, human rights, and international and national security law. He holds degrees from Yale University (B.A.), University of Pennsylvania Law School (J.D.) and Princeton University (M.A./Ph.D.). He serves on the Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch and was also appointed by President George W. Bush as a commissioner on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. Author of numerous books and articles on Islamic law and Islam, his most recent work focuses on issues of authority, tolerance and democracy in Islam.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (December 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074255094X
• ISBN-13: 978-0742550940
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #345,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #32 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Islam > Law
  • #58 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Islam > Theology

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful, enlightening book., January 19, 2007

By 

John Nordin (Minnesota, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Search for Beauty in Islam: A Conference of the Books (Paperback)

For those unfamiliar with Isalm, Abou El Fadl cracks open the tradition. You can see Islamic reasoning at work as he compares sources, uses the ancient writers and parses out conclusions. Read especially his deconstruction of alleged authorizations for violence against women in Islam and his defense of the tradition of women scholars. You can also feel his anguish at how much of Islam has turned its back on reason and the core belief that God commands the just and beautiful in favor of a narrow-minded fundamentalism. Christians struggling to defend against Christian fundamentalism will find an ally here.

Even a single chapter on a "fatwa on dogs" shows how real intellectual inquiry operates and how fundamentalists distort it.

And, if you love books, you will rejoice in his loving invocation of the conference of books, the collected wisdom of centuries, that swirl around him each night as he studies. It is a beautiful image, of books talking to each other over the years, and of each of us now joining that conversation as we read and think. My only complaint is that I would wish to have had more of this book: more Islamic analysis of issues.

Abou El Fadl has been accused of being a `sympathizer' of terrorists by Pipes; reading this book will show the total absurdity of that claim since his opposition of extremism is woven into his entire world view.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book will change your whole perspective on Islam, July 26, 2006

By 

Allegra (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Search for Beauty in Islam: A Conference of the Books (Paperback)

This is the most beautiful, moving and life-changing book. It will open your eyes to an Islam that you have not seen anywhere else. It defies the ugliness that people associate with Islam today and gives you the substance of what beauty is and is supposed to be in Islam--how to seek it, live it and aspire to it.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recollecting and reviving the beauty of Islam, September 5, 2006

By 

Ashik Rabia (Abiquiu, NM United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Search for Beauty in Islam: A Conference of the Books (Paperback)

This is an exceptional collection of essays articulating a profound mixture of legal and spiritual inquiry. There are 2 ways to experience being human: male and female, and Khaled Abou el Fadl has a remarkable and attentive regard for the female experience. A main theme presented is the necessity for Muslims, especially now, to recollect and find ways to revive and express their legacy of beauty and refinement. This is a book that can be appreciated by thoughtful people of any faith perspective.