Desperately Seeking Paradise: Journeys of a sceptical Muslim - Softcover

Ziauddin Sardar is one of the foremost Muslim intellectuals in Britain, author of more than 40 books on science, religion and culture. This is his account of his life as a restless believer. Sardar learned the Koran at his mother's knee during his childhood in Pakistan. As a young student in London, he sets out on a quest to grasp the meaning and contemporary relevance of his religion and, hopefully, to find "paradise". He experiments with the mystical branch of Islam, Sufism and with classical Islam. He then sets off on extensive travels through the Muslim world: to Iran, the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Turkey, North Africa, Pakistan and China. On his travels, Sardar speaks to other Muslima about their beliefs, and he yearningly looks back to Islam's "Golden Age". Finally, he accepts that he will probably never reach paradise - but it's the journey that's important.