Following Muhammad

Avoiding the traps of sensational political exposés and specialized scholarly Orientalism, Carl W. Ernst introduced readers in 2003 to the profound spiritual resources of Islam while clarifying diversity and debate within the tradition.

His eloquent and accessible Following Muhammad has since provided a generation of students and scholars with a crucial religious studies frame that describes how Protestant definitions of religion and anti-Muslim prejudice have affected views of Islam in Europe and America; provides a context for understanding extremist movements such as fundamentalism; and engages critical debates on important contemporary issues such as gender and veiling, state politics, and the relationship between science and religion.

Now, in this second edition of a field-defining book, Ernst reflects in a new preface on what has and has not changed in the way academics, politicians, and Americans understand and think about not only Islam but the study of foreign languages and cultures. Peter Wright’s new foreword addresses the book’s international embrace and success, the political moment out of which it arose, and the continued need for thoughtful, historically informed voices in US culture.