Voices of Islam (5 volumes)

Despite frequent and extensive publications on Islam, very few Americans, indeed very few non-Muslims, truly understand the faith or the more than one billion adherents who live it. This set presents the diversity and richness of Islam, filling in the blanks and expanding our knowledge and understanding. Portraying Muslims in all their humanity and diversity balances the images that have bombarded society and presents the reader with a fuller and more accurate picture of the Islamic faith and what it means to live as a Muslim—in Muslim communities, and as part of a broader tapestry of pluralism in the nations of the world.

Review

"This serious study of Islam leaves few stones unturned….This is a valuable reference work that needs to be turned to again and again."
– American Reference Books Annual

"Many social and cultural factors are imbedded in the practices of Islam belief and there's no better single place to understand all its ramifications than in the in-depth 5-volume setVoices of Islam, which gathers writings from across genres to explore all facets of Islamic culture. College-level collections with an interest in in-depth, definitive representation of Islamic belief will find Voices of Islam an essential addition to the collection: it covers Muslim spirituality, politics, sects, culture and gender relations, providing entire articles with bibliographic references rather than the usual A-Z encyclopedia collection one might expect from a 5-volume set. The result's an outstanding and well detailed exploration which deserves a premiere spot in any serious collection contending to hold Islamic studies titles."
– Midwest Book Review - California Bookwatch

"Insisting that a monolithic view of Islam is both wrong and dangerous and also believing that the full lived experience of being Muslim can only adequately be described by those who can bear witness to their own traditions from within, Cornell, Henry-Blakemore, and Safi present a five-volume work that is intended to provide non-Muslim general audiences at the senior high school and university undergraduate levels with as wide a depiction of Islamic doctrines, practices, and worldviews as possible. Some 50 articles by scholars that are also practicing Muslims representing a diverse range of places, traditions, cultures, and beliefs are presented in volumes that individually address the grand traditions and beliefs of the religion; the spiritual experience of Islam; everyday experiences of family, home, and society; Islamic cultures' art, aesthetics, and science; and Muslim progressives, modernists, and other reformers."
– Reference & Research Book News