Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl is the Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law, and founder of the Institute for Advanced Usuli Studies (The Usuli Institute). He is a classically trained Islamic jurist. He is the author of numerous books and articles on Islam and Islamic jurisprudence. Among his books are: Reasoning with God: Reclaiming Shari'ah in the Modern Age, The Search for Beauty in Islam: A Conference of the Books, Speaking in God's Name: Islamic law, Authority and Women, And God Knows the Soldiers: The Authoritative and Authoritarian in Islamic Discourses, The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists, and Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law. He is the recipient of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) 2020 Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion.

In this updated and expanded edition of The Search for Beauty in Islam, Abou El Fadl offers eye-opening and enlightening insights into the contemporary realities of the current state of Islam and the West. Through a "conference of the books," an imagined conference of Muslim intellects from centuries past, Abou El Fadl examines the ugliness that has come to plague Muslim realities and attempts to reclaim what he maintains is a core moral value in Islam-the value of beauty. Abou El Fadl argues that the rekindling of the forgotten value of beauty is essential for Muslims today to take back what has been lost to the fundamentalist forces that have denigrated their religion.