| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Product Description
Review
"'Ziauddin Sardar is arguably one of the best-known Muslim public intellectuals in the world today. He is an iconoclast, often a gadfly and undoubtedly one of the few Muslim intellectuals who span the proverbial Two Cultures' Muslim News"
Product Description
'The world is green and beautiful; and God has appointed you as His trustee over it.'- he Prophet Muhammad. Islam is one of the great monotheistic religions of the world. It produced a magnificent civilisation, envied for its science and learning, spanning over a thousand years. The teachings of Islam emphasise unity, humility, forgiveness and love of God. The Qur'an sings the virtues of knowledge and rationality. The life of Muhammad demonstrates the importance of tolerance, social justice and brotherhood. In Sufism, Islam presents a mystical system based on love and devotion. So, why is Islam associated with hatred, violence, obstinacy and bigotry? Ziauddin Sardar examines the true teachings of Islam and explores the reality of the Muslim world today. Emphasising the diversity of Islam and its ideals, he assesses the role Islam plays in the lives of ordinary Muslims and how Islamic beliefs and practices help Muslims understand the modern world.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
'What does it mean to be a Muslim?' Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
'What does it mean to be a Muslim?' Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
A good starting point for learning about Islam
1 Aug 2010
Format:Paperback
In this short and very readable introduction, Sardar covers all the well-known traditions of the Muslim faith (praying, fasting, etc) but also offers an overview of more complex issues like Islamic philosophy, Islamic attitudes to science, and the origins of fundamentalism. This book would be a great starting point to a general reader who just wants to see what islam and Muslims are all about-- and the book especially shines in its discussion of key concepts like khalifa (guardianship of the earth) and the driving force of social justice and fairness that lie behind many Muslim practices. (For example, who knew that early Muslims established zoning laws in their cities to protect the environment?)
But Muslims have often failed Muslim values, and Sardar is not afraid to admit it. It sounds ironic at best to talk of fairness and social justice when we see images of jailed dissidents in Iran, or of the Taliban's gruesome tactics in Afghanistan. But, Sardar argues, the faith itself is not at fault, nor are those images representative of Islam as a whole. He points to a liberal Muslim network in Indonesia or to the work of female Muslim theologians who are able to reread the holy texts in a different light. And really he'd only need to point to the vast Muslim majority, who might be more or less orthodox, but who only want to live in peace. Muslims now are asking critical questions, Sardar argues, and breaking with some of the fossilized traditions to create a way of living that's more in tune with how Islam was originally intended: "Liberal humanism is not a Western invention; rather it has deep roots in Islamic history."
At barely 120 pages, you can't expect this book to go too deeply into the complex issues it discusses. I understand that. Still, no matter how much I liked Sardar's message, I felt frustrated at times by the lack of source material: no footnotes, no sources cited, nothing except a very short suggested-reading list at the end of the book. This seems like a shortcoming to me, and it means that if you really want to learn about any of the topics he discusses, you'll have to do some further study. But maybe that's the point of a short introduction like this: to give just a little bit of background and then encourage the reader to look deeper.
But Muslims have often failed Muslim values, and Sardar is not afraid to admit it. It sounds ironic at best to talk of fairness and social justice when we see images of jailed dissidents in Iran, or of the Taliban's gruesome tactics in Afghanistan. But, Sardar argues, the faith itself is not at fault, nor are those images representative of Islam as a whole. He points to a liberal Muslim network in Indonesia or to the work of female Muslim theologians who are able to reread the holy texts in a different light. And really he'd only need to point to the vast Muslim majority, who might be more or less orthodox, but who only want to live in peace. Muslims now are asking critical questions, Sardar argues, and breaking with some of the fossilized traditions to create a way of living that's more in tune with how Islam was originally intended: "Liberal humanism is not a Western invention; rather it has deep roots in Islamic history."
At barely 120 pages, you can't expect this book to go too deeply into the complex issues it discusses. I understand that. Still, no matter how much I liked Sardar's message, I felt frustrated at times by the lack of source material: no footnotes, no sources cited, nothing except a very short suggested-reading list at the end of the book. This seems like a shortcoming to me, and it means that if you really want to learn about any of the topics he discusses, you'll have to do some further study. But maybe that's the point of a short introduction like this: to give just a little bit of background and then encourage the reader to look deeper.
Concise Summary of Islam
24 Oct 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Great reading for a very concise summary of Islam from a native scholar of the Middle East. Very clear and very easy light reading.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
What Do Muslim's Believe
5 Sep 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This has to be a book many more Americans need to read. While a faithful Muslim, Sardar gives a very enlightened view of his faith and points out that in a sense Islam is not much different from Jewish and Christian faiths. I have always been told that the Koran is violent and preaches violence. Having read The Bible and The Koran, one might make the same argument for the Old Testament.
The three faiths have the same founder, Abraham, yet went off in different directions...but at heart never leaving behind their belief in God, someone greater than themselves and that it is the duty of all followers to help their fellow man. Read this book. Hopefully he and others that believe like him will lead the faith to a Renaissance of new thought. Not one based on revenge but on one that tries to help the condition of all men (and women) and achieve what we all want in this world - peace and a modicum of prosperity.
The three faiths have the same founder, Abraham, yet went off in different directions...but at heart never leaving behind their belief in God, someone greater than themselves and that it is the duty of all followers to help their fellow man. Read this book. Hopefully he and others that believe like him will lead the faith to a Renaissance of new thought. Not one based on revenge but on one that tries to help the condition of all men (and women) and achieve what we all want in this world - peace and a modicum of prosperity.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
