November 19th, 2008
Islam: The Religion and the People
Islam: The Religion and the People
by Bernard Lewis and Buntzie Ellis Churchill
Islam is one of the world’s most important religions. With more than a billion adherents in 56 sovereign nations and growing minorities in many other countries, it is important that those of us who are not followers of Islam at least understand it. This books offers a basic look at Islam and the Muslim people throughout the world. Unfortunately, it leaves many unanswered questions and answers many questions that seem trivial at best.
A simple example should explain my point. The authors remind us that only Muslims are permitted to enter the sacred city of Mecca but they fail to answer the most basic question… how does once become a Muslim? Does Islam have a form of baptism? Does one get a certificate when one joins? Is there a quiz? How are non-Muslims prevented from entering Mecca? These most basic questions apparently never occurred to the authors. But they do devote a chapter to the clothes Muslims wear. In fact, this is a basic problem with the book. The choice of topics seems to be almost random rather than selected for importance and their lack of order makes the book feel more like a series of articles than a book.
There also seems to be an attempt to be an apologist for Islam as well. The violent overthrow of a government in the Arab world is claimed to be the moral equivalent of using money to buy influence in the West. The authors try to claim that polygamy is justified because it prevents adultery and prostitution. They make the claim that women were historically better treated in the Muslim world than the Christian world without offering any evidence to justify the claim. They make the absurd claim that a 10th century passage about the evolution of language prefigures the Darwinian theory of evolution which shows a complete lack of understanding of Darwin’s theory. They try to make the claim that suicide bombings are not acceptable in Islam by claiming historical backing but since Islam does not condemn them today, the claim has no basis other than wishful thinking.
I had hoped the book would be like an “Islam for Dummies” but it falls far short. The history is fragmented and there is more information in the definitions list at the back of the book than in the text. Overall, the book is a fair introduction to this most important topic but it falls short of being a complete introduction.
