Harry T. Norris

6 x 9, 326 pages
cloth, ISBN 0-87249-977-4, $39.95s
Studies in Comparative Religion
Frederick M. Denny, series editor

For sale in the United States, its dependencies, and Canada

ABOUT THE BOOK

Islam in the Balkans is one of the first English-language books to trace the development of Muslim communities in Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo, and Macedonia and to examine their religious and historical links to the Arab world, Persia, and central Asia. While previous studies have focused on the influence of the Turks on the Balkan Muslims, this volume documents the importance other Muslim cultures have had in shaping the art, architecture, literature, and religion of their Balkan counterparts. Moreover, Islam in the Balkans challenges the conventional view that Balkan Muslims have contributed little or nothing to the reform and revivication of world Islam; instead it details the impact Balkan Muslim scholars, poets, and bureaucrats have exercised on the wider Muslim world.

Harry Norris uses literary and historical sources—many of which are virtually unknown outside the Balkans—to formulate a study that will become the standard for scholars interested in uncovering the roots of the current ethnic conflicts between Muslim and non-Muslim communities, especially in the case of the current Serbian-Bosnian conflict.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Harry T. Norris is professor emeritus of Arabic and Islamic studies at the School of Oriental and African studies, University of London. His previous books include Sufi Mystics of the Niger Desert, The Arab Conquest of the Western Sahara, and The Berbers in Arabic Literature.