The central focus of this volume is to explore and highlight the nexus between the ideology of Islam and social and cultural milieus with the aim of reconceptualising the sacred as a socially constructed reality and not a transcendental supernatural phenomenon. From this perspective, human agency and society become the main focus for shaping, perpetuating and institutionalising religious beliefs, ideas and practices, opening up space for empirical and sociological analyses of religious phenomena.
The seven chapters in this volume seek to explore and examine some of the key debates in contemporary sociology of Islam. The topics explored are: social factors in the origins of Islam; social theory and Muslim society; Islam and politics in South Asia; Muslim piety; anti-Semitism; the social foundations of Muhammad’s prophetic mission, with a special reference to Arab historical memory and the role of his first wife Khadija bint Khuwaylid; and the barriers to social inclusion of Australian Muslims in Australian society.


Professor Riaz Hassan is Visiting Research Professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore and Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Flinders University. He is also a Senior Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne. He has published extensively on Muslim societies in an academic career that has spanned more than 40 years, and his recent books include: Suicide Bombings (Routledge), Life as a Weapon: The Global Rise of Suicide Bombings (Routledge), Inside Muslim Minds (Melbourne University Press) and Faithlines: Muslim Conceptions of Islam and Society (Oxford University Press). He is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and Member of Order of Australia.