Michael Cook

Why does Islam play a larger role in contemporary politics than other religions? Is there something about the Islamic heritage that makes Muslims more likely than adherents of other faiths to invoke i

Detective Fiction and the Ghost Story is the first full-length study to concentrate on the engagement between detective fiction and the ghost story, one of the central relationships in all popular gen

Why does Islam play a larger role in contemporary politics than other religions? Is there something about the Islamic heritage that makes Muslims more likely than adherents of other faiths to invoke i

The locked room mystery is one of the iconic creations of popular fiction. Michael Cook's critical study reveals how this archetypal form of the puzzle story has had a significant effect in shaping th

The New Cambridge History of Islam is a comprehensive history of Islamic civilization, tracing its development from its beginnings in seventh-century Arabia to its wide and varied presence in the globalised world of today. The six volumes reflect the geographical distribution and the cultural, social and religious diversity of the peoples of the Muslim world. Four volumes cover historical developments and two are devoted to themes that cut across geographical and chronological divisions, ranging from social, political and economic relations to the arts, literature and learning. Each volume's introduction sets the scene for the ensuing chapters and examines relationships with adjacent civilizations. Written by a team combining established authorities and rising scholars in the field, this will be the standard reference for students, scholars and all those with enquiring minds for years to come.

What kind of duty do we have to try to stop other people doing wrong? The question is intelligible in just about any culture, but few of them seek to answer it in a rigourous fashion. The most striking exception is found in the Islamic tradition, where 'commanding right' and 'forbidding wrong' is a central moral tenet already mentioned in the Koran. As an historian of Islam whose research has ranged widely over space and time, Michael Cook is well placed to interpret this complex subject. His book represents the first sustained attempt to map the history of Islamic reflection on this obligation. It covers the origins of Muslim thinking about 'forbidding wrong', the relevant doctrinal developments over the centuries, and its significance in Sunni and Shi'ite thought today. In this way the book contributes to the understanding of Islamic thought, its relevance to contemporary Islamic politics and ideology, and raises fundamental questions for the comparative study of ethics.

The key sources for the reconstruction of the early history of Muslim dogma are a group of texts ascribed to authors of the late first century of the Hijra. These texts bear on two major doctrinal controversies, the Murji'ite and the Qadarite, raising issues related on the one hand to the judgement of the events of the First Civil War, and on the other to the dilemma of predestination and free will. Part I and II of this study present a new source for the early history of the Murji'a, and argue new positions regarding the early doctrine and politics of the movement. Parts III and IV are an investigation of the authenticity and dating of this and half a dozen similar sources; the issues thereby raised are fundamental for the history of Muslim dogma, and have ramifications for the study of early Muslim history at large. The book also discusses the origin of particular Muslim doctrines in the religious and intellectual trends of late antiquity.

Three short plays by Michael Cook: Tiln, Quiller and Therese’s Creed.In Tiln, two old men are caught in a personal power struggle. Using a lighthouse setting, Cook explores the modern man's dilemma in