Islam The Religious and Political Life of a World Community by Marjorie Kelley Published by: Praeger Publishers, 1984, New York, New York

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 ...