Product Description

Islam is one of the world's great monotheistic religions. Islamic culture, spanning 1,500 years, has produced some of the finest achievements of humanity. Yet the religion followed by a fifth of humankind, including millions from diverse ethnic backgrounds in the US and Europe, is largely seen in the West in terms of fundamentalism, bigotry and violence, a perception reinforced by the terrorist atrocities in New York and Washington in 2001 and subsequent outrages. But the real message of Islam is very far indeed from this picture, making it perhaps the least understood religion in the world. This informative guide recounts the history of Islam from the birth of Phophet Muhammad in the 6th century to its status as a global culture and political force today. Charting the achievements of Muslim civilization, it explains the nature and message of the Qur'an, outlines the basic features of Islamic law, and assesses the impact of colonialism on Muslim societies. This book shows how Muslims everywhere are trying to live their faith and are struggling to shape new Islamic ideas and ideals in a globalized world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #452263 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Customer Reviews

An unreliable guide to Islam
If you know nothing about Islam then you will pick up some basic facts from this book. Unfortunately it is written in such a transparently partisan style and with so many incorrect statements and wild generalisations that it is impossible for a beginner to know what is fact and what is not.

A few examples (there are many more):
1. Page 20. Muhammad's constitution for the city of Madian was "the first in the world".
This staggeringly incorrect. The Ancient world from Mesopotamia to Greece and Rome has a rich history of written constitutions.
2. Page 30. The life of Muhammad "was lived in the full light of history".
The earliest Life of Muhammad that remains to us (Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah) was written a hundred years after his death. Much of it is based on who said what to whom who then said it to someone else .... Hardly the full light of history.
3. Page 39 On the Qur'an: "Efforts to compile a single, unified written text started immediately after the death of the prophet."
On page 38 we are told that "the whole text existed in written form" in the prophet's lifetime. We are asked to believe that the direct word of God was written down here and there on bits of leather and bone etc but that no one thought it important to keep it all together and in order. I am a pretty untidy person but I think that if God ever communicates with me directly and repeatedly I will be careful to keep the stuff in order and in one place. This is all especially strange because the book claims that Muhammad was followed around by a team of scribes writing down all his thoughts. Surely one of them could have kept things in order!
4. Page 48. Not satisfied with pointing out that Renaissance Europe benefited greatly from knowledge obtained from the world of Islam the author goes on to make the exaggerated claim that this knowledge was "largely responsible for the birth of the 'age of science'" in Europe. One can only wonder, in that case, why it was in Europe that modern science took off and not in the Islamic world.
5. Page 51. In Islam there is "no distinction between the powerful and the powerless" or "between men and women". A review of the Quran's rulings on the rights of slave owners over their female slaves soon provides a clear refutation of both those propositions.
6. Page 99. "Omar Khayyam solved third and fourth degree equations ...the highest achievement of modern mathematics".
Omar Khayyam found some geometrical methods for solving particular cubics but did not think that there was a general solution. Such solutions were found by others later on. The claim that this is the highest achievement of modern mathematics is bizarre.
7. Page 101. The great work of Ibn al-Haytham on optics is discussed and it is then asserted that Europeans plagarised his work: "Guilty parties include Roger Bacon..."
Actually, if you read Roger Bacon's work, which Ziauddin Sardar does not appear to have done, you will find that he gives clear and repeated attribution to Ibn al-Haytham. He says that he will refer to three main sources. To of them are Arabic and one European!
I could go on and on with these examples but this is perhaps enough.
If you want a reliable guide to Islam read Malise Ruthven's A Short Introduction to Islam.

Great introduction
This is a great introduction to this religion. I feel it is especially important to read about this faith after the negative press in recent years and after reading this book you are left with a deep appreciation of this faith and what it has offered the world and still offers. This book is clear and interesting and written in the usual 'Introducing...' format, i.e lots of pictures and asides to clarify points. I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to all who are interested in learning more about Islam.

Excellent introduction to Islam
This is a very informative and fascinating introduction to a subject which has gained a lot of interest recently. The author has already written a similar book which focussed on Muhammad but this is more general in its scope. It follows a mainly chronological approach, charting the rise of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula, the split between the two main branches of Sumnni and Shi’ite, and its eventual spread around the world.

It also explains the main beliefs and tenets of Islam in a non-judgmental way leaving it up to the reader to decide what they think. The text includes very clear definitions of key terms and information on the main characters in Islam. The author uses various quotes from the Koran to highlight the teaching of Islam.

In other books in the ‘Introducing...’series the illustrations can sometimes draw away from the text. However, here the restrictions on representing people and animals have meant that the illustrations complement the text well, but don’t overwhelm it. It also includes some beautiful examples of calligraphy and the geometrical styles used in art and architecture.

For Christians and Jews it may come as a surprise that Muslims also see Jesus, Abraham and other biblical figures as being prophets and that in fact there is a lot that unites them. Understanding this, Muslims have always considered Christians and Jews to be ‘people of the book’ and have protected their rights, as long as they did not clash with Islam. When the Spanish persecuted Christians and Jews in the 14th century they fled to the then Muslim city of Cordoba, where they felt safe. Muslims see their faith as being the last of a serious of revelations from God which therefore supersedes the older faiths. This book gives examples of the differences between these faiths; for example, Jesus is viewed as a prophet with divine characteristics but crucially not the Son of God.

The most interesting part I felt was when the author highlights how Islam has flourished in different parts of the world. It is fascinating to read about places such as, Damascus, Cordoba, Baghdad, Delhi and Istanbul and how they adapted to Islam. Here I feel the author is slightly misleading because the great achievements in these and many other places seem to be credited to Islam whereas many of these places already had vibrant cultures.

What is clear is that because science and faith were not viewed as being separate fields many great thinkers and scientists were allowed to develop their ideas. Many, such as, Ibn Sina, Al-Razi and Ibn Khaldoon were at the forefront of astronomy, medicine, philosophy and mathematics and it is a shame that today they are not even known by most Muslims.

The book clearly shows how open-minded Muslim scholars were and how they synthesized knowledge from different cultures, maths from India, philosophy from the Greeks. In fact, it is thanks to the rediscovery, translation and reintroduction of classical texts by Islamic scholars, that the European Renaissance was able to take place. For example, Ibn Rushd, known in Europe by the name ‘Averroes’, had translated Aristotle and in medieval Europe was regarded as ‘The Commentator’ on Aristotle. He was held in such high regard that Raphael even included him in his painting ‘The School of Athens’, which depicted all the great ‘Western’ thinkers. Unfortunately the West seems to have forgotten or conveniently overlooks the role that Islamic thinkers have played in history. Although the hundreds of words of Arabic origin in English such as, chemistry, zenith, zero, alkali reflect this influence.

Also mentioned is the role of women and the rights that they have. It is apparent, although not directly mentioned by the author, that the abuse of women’s rights under the guise of Islam has little to do with what is stated in the Koran and is often because of local customs. Other fascinating information is provided on art, architecture, customs and trade.

One of the most interesting characters mentioned in the book is Ibn Battuta who rivals Marco Polo as one of the world’s greatest travellers. In the 14th century he travelled all over the Muslim world at the time, which stretched from West Africa to Indonesia and it is instructive to compare his report on black Africans he met in Mali to later Europeans. He sees them as having admirable qualities and being just and pious, whereas Europeans found only savages ready to conquer. This also underlines the racial equality found in Islam and how the community of Muslims, the Umma, are supposed to treat each other equally.

Given all this why does Islam seem to have stagnated from this glorious age of discovery and tolerance? The author traces this to the 14th century when religious scholars rejected ‘ijtihad’ (reasoned struggle) in favour of ‘taqlid’ (blind reasoning). Since then Islamic societies have developed in many different ways and there is a brief look at this with the point being made that many modern fundamentalists, who claim to be acting in Islam’s name, have little to do with the true message of Islam. However, it seems unlikely that progress will be made unless Muslims become aware of and take pride in their own heritage and revive the dynamic, forward-looking aspects of Islam which served them well in the past.

This book is a timely reminder of the great achievements of Islamic Culture and also of how closely intertwined Islam and the West has been and the things they share in common. This is especially relevant since the terrorist attacks of September 11th and the concurrent rise in Islamophobia.

The book does not have an index but it does provide a useful bibliography for further reading. I am not a Muslim but was greatly impressed by this book and would strongly recommend it as to Muslims and non-Muslims wanting to learn more about Islam and Islamic culture.