With Islam's increasing visibility in global society, growing Muslim populations, and Muslim countries competing to be at the heart of global sport, the interplay between sport and Islam can tell us much about contemporary Islam, globalisation, and the challenges faced by Muslims, particularly young Muslims, in finding their place in contemporary society. With contributions from Muslim and non-Muslim authors, and drawing on sociology, anthropology, political science, Islamic studies and sport studies, this book examines the significance of sport in Islam, religious identity in sporting settings, and the interplay between sport, gender, political ideology and consumer culture.

1. Sport in Islam: the complexities, controversies and context Part 1: Understanding Sport in Islam 2. Engaging in sport: The Islamic framework Part 2: Gender, Body and Culture 3. Sports participation of Muslim youth in Germany 4. Being and Becoming Tomboys: Muslim Women Gender Identities and Sport 5. Women, Islamic Feminism and Children Only Soccer in Erdogan's Turkey: empowerment or discrimination? 6. Football, war and masculinities on the Palestine Gaza Strip: A nation without a proper state Part 3: Sport and Politics of Identity 7. Sport and Political Transition in Tunisia 8. Contestations and Dichotomies Concerning Women's Bodies and Sports in Contemporary Turkey: From Aysun Özbek to Neslihan Darnel 9. The Influence of the Nation of Islam and Islam on British-Muslim Ex-offenders: Malcolm, Muhammad and Redemption 10. Muslim Immigrants and Football in Amara Lakhous's Fiction Part 4: Sport development and sport for development 11. Sport and integration discourse in Norway 12. Islam, Sport and Marketing or sport marketing in Muslim cultures 13. Sport policy and Islam in Malaysia 14. Diplomacy and The Beautiful Game: Muslim footballers as ambassadors of faith Part 5: Conclusion 15. Research on Sport and Islam: the way forward

Alberto Testa is a senior lecturer in criminology at the Ealing Law School, University of West London, UK. He has an academic background in sociology and is a certified sociological practitioner who has gained international recognition as an applied sociologist. Alberto's research interests focus on the application of social behaviourism to make sense of deviance and crime. Within this theoretical framework, his particular areas of expertise are fourfold: football crowd behaviour and disorder; policing and civil liberties; European neo-fascism and neo-Nazism; and radicalisation and Islamophobia. His current research is on Italian Muslim youth, marginalisation and Islamophobia

Mahfoud Amara is Assistant Professor in Sport Management and Policy at the College of Arts and Sciences (Sport Science Program), Qatar University. Before joining Qatar University he was Lecturer in Sport Policy and Management and the Deputy Director of the Centre for Olympic Studies and Research in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health
Sciences, Loughborough University. Dr Amara has a specific interest in sport business, culture, and politics in Arab and Muslim contexts. He has published material on the politics of the Pan-Arab Games, sport in colonial and post-colonial Algeria, sport and the business of media broadcasting in the Arab world, the sport and modernisation debate in the Gulf
region; sport development and development through sport in the Arab World. His other research interest is sport, multiculturalism and intercultural dialogue.