Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, July/August 1998, Page 126

Book Reviews

Islam

By Isma’il R. Al Faruqi, Ph.D., Amana Publications, 3rd Edition, 1995, 83 pp. List: $6.95; AET: $5.00.

Reviewed by Michael S. Lee

Islam is an efficient introduction to the religion of Islam, with the book’s own introduction noting that “for the believer, the study of another religious tradition should enhance his or her own faith-understanding; for the nonbeliever (i.e., agnostic), the study of religion should open up new dimensions of the human spirit.”

The introduction also makes the inarguable point that “the objective study of religion should be undertaken because of its inherent significance—because the understanding of cultures and societies, indeed of humankind, is severely limited when such study is ignored…such inquiry should open us to what we share in common with other religious persons, as well as to what is genuinely unique about our own religious beliefs and traditions.”

Thus, an uncluttered and concise presentation of Islam such as this book provides is extremely important in this age of ever-shrinking distances and greater chances for misunderstandings to escalate to more lethal levels.

The book is broken down into seven chapters, giving the reader an introductory understanding of Islam, through descriptions of the phenomenon of the religion, the religious obligations of Muslims, the life of the Prophet Muhammad, the structure of the Muslim family, the Islamic view of nature and wealth, the meaning of the Islamic World Order and Islamic culture and history.

The book does an excellent job of presenting Islam in its pure form as a religion of inclusion and complete respect for other faiths, especially Judaism and Christianity, seen as the other two great Semitic religions of which Islam is the third, with the Prophet Muhammad being the last in a line of prophets that includes Abraham, Moses and Jesus.

Hopefully, the more people read books such as Islam, the more they will emerge with an awareness of the Islamic religion as it really is and should be.