Mecca

One of the best-known Muslim public intellectuals in the world today … A pioneering writer on Islam * Guardian on Muhammad: All that Matters *Sardar is funny, self-deprecating and humble … One of the wittiest intellectual figures commenting on Islam * Islamic Voice on Muhammad: All that Matters *Britain’s own Muslim polymath * Independent *Readers of Mecca may at times feel they are still accompanying Sardar on his journey as a sceptical Muslim; mostly, they will sense a wide ranging intellectual engagement with a city that has been one of the world’s most important over the last one and a half millennia. In his hands they can appraise how this long history connects with the predicament facing his fellow believers in the world today. – Geoffrey Nash * ASTENE Bulletin *Ziauddin Sardar’s poignant book Mecca: The Sacred City, describes the desecration of Islam’s holiest site – Yasmin Alibhai-Brown * Independent *

Ziauddin Sardar was born in Pakistan and grew up in Hackney. A writer, broadcaster and cultural critic, he is one of the world’s foremost Muslim intellectuals and author of more than fifty books on Islam, science and contemporary culture, including the highly acclaimed Desperately Seeking Paradise. He has been listed by Prospect magazine as one of Britain’s top 100 intellectuals. Currently he is the Director of Centre for Postnormal Policy and Futures Studies at East West University, Chicago, co-editor of the quarterly Critical Muslim, consulting editor of Futures, a monthly journal on policy, planning and futures studies, and Chair of the Muslim Institute in London.