Islam in Britain, 1558-1685 / Nabil Matar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Matar, N. I. (Nabil I.), 1949- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Islam--Great Britain--History.

Islam.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 226 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book examines the impact of Islam on Britain between 1558 and 1685. Professor Matar provides a perspective on the transformation of British thought and society by demonstrating how influential Islam was in the formation of early modern British culture. Christian-Muslim interaction was not, as is often thought, primarily adversarial; rather, there was extensive cultural, intellectual and missionary engagement with Islam in Britain. The author documents conversion both to and from Islam, and surveys reactions to these conversions. He examines the impact of the Qur'an and Sufism, not to mention coffee, on British culture, and cites extensive interaction of Britons with Islam through travel, in London coffee houses, in church, among converts to and from Islam, in sermons and in plays. Finally, he focuses on the theological portrait of Muslims in conversionist and eschatological writings.

Contents:

Acknowledgements; Transcription; Introduction: Islam in early modern Britain; 1. 'Turning Turke': conversion to Islam in English writings; 2. The renegade on stage and in church; 3. 'Arabia Britannica': 'Alcoran' and the legacy of Arabic Islam; 4. 'Baptising the Turk': conversion to Christianity in English writings; 5. Eschatology and the Saracens; Conclusion: Islam and Britain: centripetal to centrifugal; Bibliography; Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (pages 192-217) and index.

ISBN:

0-511-58273-0

0-511-00586-5