Books in the Exploring the House of Islam: Perceptions of Islam in the Period of Western Ascendancy 1800-1945 series

Lilias Trotter moved from England to Algiers in 1888, at the age of 35, and died there in 1928. Lilias based The Way of the Sevenfold Secret on Christ's seven `I am' sayings in John's gospel, and attempted to link them to the traditional seven steps taken by members of Sufi orders in their quest for union with God.

Given the twenty-first century association between the Holy Land and the Bible, we may assume that such a relationship just exists, and that the land is like the Book and contains a timeless quality.

Subhan is well-known for his seminal work, Sufism: Its Saints and Shrines. His Sufi background and intimate knowledge of its beliefs and practices enabled him to explain Sufism to others. All ten chapters in Sufism are interesting, including chapter eight, which contains a comparative discussion of Sufism in the broader Hindu context.

Based on lectures delivered in Chichester Cathedral, this book mirrors typical nineteenth century English attitudes toward the non-European space.

Temple Gairdner's The Rebuke of Islam, published in 1920, has long been recognized as one of the classics of Christian response to Islam in the early 20th century.

Ignaz Goldziher was a pre-eminent scholar of Islam during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It remains a classic that, in our day, is well worth re-visiting as it can still inform our understanding of contemporary Islam, whose roots lie in all that Goldziher covers.

Moslem Women is built around six main chapters; half are devoted to the place and experiences of Moslem women, and half consider the Christian mission to these women. The Zwemers acknowledge some of the great women of Islamic history, such as Rabia, the famous early mystic, and Nurah Mahal, wife of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir.