An Introduction to Islam David Waines. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp. 332.

Abstract

David Waines, Islamic lecturer at Lancaster University, divides An
Introduction to Islam into three parts. Part 1 deals with the Qur'an and the
Sunnah in the formative period, and part 2 is devoted to Islamic teachings
and practices, including separate chapters on Islamic law, theology, Sufism,
and Shi'ism. The connecting thread in these first two parts is the ways in
which Muslim scholars have explored "revelation and the experience of
their Prophet, Muhammad" (p. 3). Part 3 treats Islam in the modern world,
recounting the period over the last two centuries during which Muslims
have been challenged by western hegemony and have sought to establish a
modem sense of Islamic identity.
This is a comprehensive, wide-ranging, and up-to-date treatment of
Islamic history and culture. It is by no means the only recent introduction
on Islam by a western scholar: Victor Danner's The Islamic Tradition: An
Introduction (1988) deals with the Islamic intellectual and spiritual tradition
within the context of other religious traditions. Frederick M. Dermy's
An Introduction to Islam (1985) offers a comprehensive, simple account of
Islam, and Annemarie Schinunels' Islam: An Introduction is a concise and ...