Islam

Abstract

This volume, which is the print component of an introduction to Islamic civilization course produced by the Foreign Policy Association in cooperation with National Public Radio and the University of Texas at Austin, was made possible by funds from the Exxon Education Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Written specifically for adult readers with little or no background in Islamic studies, the book lacks the scholarly paraphernalia of footnotes and diacritical marks. Divided into 14 chapters, the work features the writings of luminaries such as Fazlur Rahman, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Francis Peters and John O. Voll, to name but a few of the list of contributors. Opening the work is the 28-page chapter of Peter J. Awn, who gives a comprehensive and introspective account of Muslim faith and practice. He reminds his predominently Western audience that, contrary to the writings of educators, writers and journalists in the West, Islam is historically a Western religion, deriving from the same Semitic spritual sources as Judaism and Christianity. After pointing out the historical links between Islam and the other Semitic traditions, he goes on to discuss a number of issues in the Islamic religion. Awn’s discussion of the five pillars of Islam is certainly refreshing, for it shows a sense of sympathy and understanding which has not yet been evident among many of the older generations of Islamicists called orientalists. In his discussion of the diversity in the Muslim Ummah, Awn takes the position that the Sunni/Shite divide should not be seen in terms of an orthodoxy/heterodoxy dichotomy. He goes on to explain the historical evolution of the tvcro communities in terms of politics in the early Islamic state, and his account follows the familiar interpretations in the Western works. The second chapter, written by University of Chicago Professor, Dr. Fazlur Rahman, treats us to a 25-page study of the Prophet Mohammad. Drawing from his earlier work, Professor Rahman gives a very illuminating historical account of the Prophet’s struggle with the Meccan Polytheists. Indeed, what makes this chapter quite interesting is the manner in which the author ...