Puritan Islam : the geoexpansion of the Muslim world

In this unique analysis of Muslim population shifts in the Western world, geographer Barry A. Vann provides fresh insights into the theological factors that play into these demographic trends. Vann examines the "imagined geographies" of Muslims with a puritan orientation. People with this mind-set are little inclined to accept a pluralistic, multicultural, live-and-let-live concept of society. And conflicts between conflicting value systems are almost inevitable. Vann notes that this purist approach to Islam is certainly not universal among Muslims, and there are many varying interpretations that are more moderate in outlook. Nonetheless, the undeniable theological background of all Muslim communities colors their values and attitudes, and must be taken into consideration when attempting to understand the potential conflicts between contiguous Muslim and non-Muslim groups. Given the fact that the population of Muslim immigrants is growing in traditionally Christian and increasingly secular countries of the Western world while the resident populations are either stagnant or declining, Vann's insightful analysis of the ways in which Islam influences perceptions of community and geography is of great relevance. From the Hardcover edition.

In contrast to previous waves of immigrants who arrived in host countries eager to become productive and contributing members of their new homelands and desiring to adopt the native customs and culture, puritan Muslim immigrants with their more conservative, if not radical, interpretation of the dictates of Islam are likely to refuse assimilation in favor of a separatist lifestyle, seemingly cut off from the host nations. Clearly, people with a puritan Muslim mind-set are little inclined to accept a pluralistic, multicultural, live-and-let-live concept of society. And conflicts between differing value systems are almost inevitable. This author shows that this purist approach to Islam is certainly not universal among Muslims, and there are many varying interpretations that are more moderate in outlook. Nonetheless, the undeniable theological background of all Muslim communities colors their values and attitudes, and must be taken into consideration when attempting to understand the potential conflicts between contiguous Muslim and non-Muslim groups. Given the fact that the population of Muslim immigrants is growing rapidly in traditionally Christian and increasingly secular countries of the Western world while the resident populations are either stagnant or declining, Vann’s insightful analysis of the ways in which Islam influences perceptions of community and geography is an eye-opening message of urgency and gives evidence of the social, political, and cultural changes that lie ahead.

Qur'anic geotheology and other perspectives of Islam An emerging Muslim world Puritans' view of self and community Puritans' perception of unbelievers The sanctity of Allah's world Toward a theocratic nation American's Islam's two communities The incommensurability of liberalism and puritan Islam Puritans' perceptions of the state of israel Future geographies of Islam. Muslim enclaves composed of recent immigrants are an increasingly common part of society in Western Europe, North America, and South America. Unfortunately, this has sometimes resulted in conflicts between residents and the newcomers. This title looks at the ways in which Puritan Islam influences perceptions of community and geography. Explores the social, political, and cultural changes happening in Christian and increasingly secular Western countries as their populations expand with growing numbers of Muslim immigrants.