The Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements is published in the Brill series of Handbooks on Contemporary Religion, and joins volumes that are of obvious interests for scholars of alternative and emergent religions. These include the Handbook of East Asian New Religious Movements and books that are aimed at a broader audience within the study of religion, such as the Handbook of Global Contemporary Christianity. The Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements falls somewhere between these two examples. While some of the movements considered are (relatively) new and alternative, others are many centuries old. It is as much a handbook of global contemporary Islam as of sects and movements.
This Handbook is written for an audience with little or no background knowledge of Islam, and therefore explains basic matters that many readers will find helpful, and that more knowledgeable readers can safely skip. It consists mostly of chapters...
University of California Press