Comparative discussions of Islam as lived religion in areas close to its heartland as well in distant parts where Islam meets and interacts with other religious and cultural traditions, moving beyond Orientalist notions of an unchanging world of Islam to a focus on the diversity of Muslim experiences. '...provides a useful antidote to conventional studies that insist upon analayzing Muslim societies solely through the lens of Islam...' - Bulletin of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies, Professor Ali S. Asani