Ethnographic studies of Muslim societies, particularly of transnational Islamic movements, Muslim minorities, ethnicity and the changing status and role of Muslim women, have acquired considerable prominence and salience in the past few years. A few Muslim sociologists have focused attention on the restructuring of sociology in an Islamic framework and on formulating the principles and premises of Islamic sociology. The material in this area is rather sketchy and scattered and is not easily accessible to students and researchers. This volume seeks to fill in this lacuna by putting together a set of important papers on the subject. An extended Introduction by the editor sets out the wider historical, political, social and cultural context in which the issue of conceptualizing an Islamic sociology in particular and the restructuring of Social science knowledge in general can be located.