The Muslim Difference: Defining the Line between Believers and Unbelievers from Early Islam to the Present

A sweeping history of Muslim identity from its origins in late antiquity to the present



How did Muslims across time and place define the line between themselves and their neighbors? Youshaa Patel explores why the Prophet Muhammad first advised his followers to emulate Christians and Jews, but then allegedly reversed course, urging them to "be different!" He details how subsequent generations of Muslim scholars canonized the Prophet's admonition into an influential doctrine against imitation ...