Islamic myths and collective memory are very much alive in today's localized struggles for identity, and are deployed in the ongoing construction of worldwide cultural networks. This book brings the theoretical perspectives of myth-making and collective memory to the study of Islam and globalization and to the study of the place of the mass media in the contemporary Islamic resurgence. It explores the annulment of spatial and temporal distance by globalization and by the communications revolution underlying it, and how this has affected the cherished myths and memories of the Muslim community. It shows how contemporary Islamic thinkers and movements respond to the challenges of globalization by preserving, reviving, reshaping, or transforming myths and memories.

Chapter 1 Introduction:Islamic Myths and Memories Facing the Challenge of Globalization, Itzchak Weismann, Mark Sedgwick, Ulrika MÃ¥rtensson; Part I The Past in the Present; Chapter 1a Modern and Islamic Icons in Arab-Islamic Popular Historical Memory, Mark Sedgwick; Chapter 2 The Ottoman Empire as Harmonious Utopia: A Historical Myth and its Function, Martin Riexinger; Chapter 3 From a Red Guard to a Jahrinya: A Chinese Author's Return to Islam, Xiaofei Tu; Chapter 4 Satan and the Temptation of State Power: Medieval Islamic Myth in Global Society, Ulrika MÃ¥rtensson; Part II Sacred Places and Persons; Chapter 5 The Glocalization of al-Haram al-Sharif: Designing Memory, Mystifying Place, Nimrod Luz; Chapter 6 The Myth of Perpetual Departure: Sufis in a New (Age) Global (Dis)Order, Itzchak Weismann; Chapter 7 Shaykh Osama Bin Laden: An Evolving Global Myth, Anne Birgitta Nilsen; Part III Preaching, New and Old; Chapter 8 The Postmodern Reconstitution of an Islamic Memory: Theory and Practice in the Case of Yusuf al-Qaradawi's Virtual Umma, Uriya Shavit; Chapter 9 The Rating of Allah: The Renaissance of Preaching in the Age of Globalization, Shosh Ben-Ari; Chapter 10 The Reception of Islamic Prophet Stories within Muslim Communities in Norway and Germany, Gerd Marie Ã...dna;