At a time in our post-9/11 world when fundamentalist forces appear to dominate Islam, a vibrant and consequential discourse has emerged from many prominent writers seeking to change the direction of Muslim thought. This timely and important volume, representing a broad cross section of this reformist trend, brings together the writings of thirteen of the most renowned and influential Muslim thinkers alive today. Their essays include broad overviews of Islam, its core principles, and the complex relationship between Islam, democracy, and civil rights; three works by Muslim feminist intellectuals, and more. The volume also places the life, career, and arguments of each thinker in proper national and historical context, at last making their ideas easily accessible to Western readers.

    "Mehran Kamrava has compiled a selection from some of the leading Muslim reformist thinkers whose voices have often been muted and marginalized. These essays introduce the reader to the nuances of the unfolding drama surrounding the issues of religion, politics and the public space across the Muslim World, revealing the richness as well as the limitations of these new attempts to synthesize Islam and modernity. This is a must-read for all those interested in hearing the new voices and seeing the other face of Islam." --Manochehr Dorraj, Professor of Political Science, Texas Christian University

    "The New Voices of Islam is a fine collection which effectively answers the question: where are the reformist voices in Islam? Mehran Kamrava has done an excellent job in presenting the global diversity of Muslim thinking from North Africa to Southeast Asia, Europe to America." --John L Esposito, University Professor and Founding Director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University.

    "Western public concern about Islamic extremism is almost wholly uninformed by the views of the reforming intellectuals gathered together in Mehran Kamrava's very important book The New Voices of Islam. These men and women, living both within the Islamic world and in Europe and America, have been struggling for a modern, pluralist, tolerant and democratic transformation of the Muslim world years before the crises of 9/11 and 7/7. Their collective message deserves the widest exposure, particularly within western political circles where it has, sadly, gone unheeded." --David Waines, Emeritus Professor of Islamic Studies, Lancaster University

    "This volume contains not the voices of Muslim governments and Islamist oppositions but the work of Muslim mavericks--refreshing in their originality, searing in their critiques, reassuring in their rationality. These voices deserve a wider audience in the West, and this book responds to that need. But also, and most especially, they deserve the attention of Muslims everywhere. Government repression and Islamist pressures unfortunately obstruct general access to such unconventional ideas in many Muslim states." --Robert D Lee, Professor of Political Science, Colorado College

About the Author

Mehran Kamrava, Professor of Political Science at California State University, Northridge, is author of nine previous books on various aspects of political development and Middle Eastern politics, including The Modern Middle East: A Political History Since World War I (UC Press).

* Publisher:  University of California (Feb 2007)

* Page: 291 pages, paperback

* ISBN: 978-0-520-25099-4