Islamic and Comparative Religious Studies

'William Graham's meticulous and wide-ranging researches constitute a landmark contribution to Islamic studies and a clear demonstration of how to carry out fully grounded comparative studies of religion. This outstanding collection will be welcomed by students and specialists across the field of religious studies.' Carl W. Ernst, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA 'With first-person original introductions to review his own scholarly career and to contextualize the collected materials, William A. Graham's Islamic and Comparative Religious Studies offers a unique opportunity to get to know this scholar of an uncommon caliber. Students of Islam will learn how to approach it as one major religious tradition of humankind to be productively juxtaposed and compared with others. Students of other religious traditions or religion in general will find here a presentation of important aspects of Islam that is not only accessible but inspirational. This is a must-read for all the students with interest in Islam, "scripture", or comparative studies of religion, especially at an early stage of their scholarly formation.' Kazuo Morimoto, University of Tokyo, Japan 'These insightful and often deeply felt essays illuminate the continuing signicance and salience of the human engagement with Religion and particularly Islam,across time and space.' Azim Nanji, Stanford University, USA William Graham has throughout his career consistently emphasized the relationships between religious communities and their scriptures. This collection of essays shows the consistency and clarity that he has brought to the study of Islam, of scripture, and of religion. Because Graham started with Muslim’s relationship to the Qur’an, he has cast the originally Christian/Western word scripture into much sharper relief. That has changed how the field of religion must understand the category of scripture and also the individual texts, traditions and practices indicated by the term.