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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting analysis, 26 April 2006
It is quite a task in the Western world, in the post 9-11 world when there are still active warfare situations taking place in two different Islamic country settings, to set out to write a book on the history, culture and heart of Islam as being something other than that which seems to come across in mass media on a daily basis.
The beginning of this text is the Quran - 'It is invaluable in revealing the ideology of the Muslim faith in its infancy: that is, before the faith became a religion, before the religion became an institution.' Aslan states that the Quran and the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad are grounded in mythology (mythology not as false tales, but rather as stories of the supernatural) which has both credibility and legitimacy in significant ways - these ways are variously interpreted by different groups within the Muslim world.
Within the many chapters, Aslan looks at the early days Islam during the life of the Prophet, the immediate successors of Muhammad, the development of the Shariah and theological positions, and the mystical system of the Sufi. Aslan also looks at the contemporary aspects of Islam by tracing post-colonial sentiments (something still very much at work in the conflicts of the present time) and what Aslan and other have termed the Islamic Reformation, a return to early principles of the Islam that have been obscured in the history of the faith and its interplay with political reality.
Aslan's running motif is that Islam, at its philosophical and theological heart, is a pluralistic system with democracy as the best, final outcome. There is support for this - the long-standing Jewish communities in Babylon and Spain under Islamic rule, the recognition of the validity of Jewish and Christian theological bases by Muhammad, etc. However, the history of Islam is a very human history - as in other religious contexts, the rulers have frequently failed to live up to the ideals, persecuting not only outsiders, but also different members of their religion with special ferocity (not dissimilar to the stories of Moses imposing the death penalty on Israelites in the desert for collecting sticks on the Sabbath, or Christians burning other Christians at the stake for holding heretical views).
Aslan is passionate, but fails to persuade in many cases. In giving his own account of his return to Iran after the amnesty was announced for exiled Iranians to visit without fear of detention and punishment, there was still a sense of the failure of the government and culture to live up to its ideals, and Aslan is a bit quick to assign blame outside of Iran than on the rulers themselves. Still, the experiences are interesting to read, and Aslan's analysis worth considering.
Aslan writes that not only did the events of 9-11 set in motion a clash between the Judeo-Christian world and the Muslim world in broad terms, but 'also initiated a vibrant discourse among Muslims about the meaning and message of Islam in the twenty-first century. What has occurred since that fateful day amounts to nothing short of another Muslim civil war - a fitnah - which, like the contest to define Islam after the Prophet's death, is tearing the Muslim community into opposing factions.' We are in the midst of the Islamic Reformation, and it is too soon to tell what the outcome may be.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A generally excellent discussion and analysis of Islam past, present and future, 18 April 2006
A highly readable account of the origins, history and future of Islam, Aslan's book is suitable both for the interested observer and the serious student of Islam. Beginning with discussions of religious practices in pre-Islamic Arabia, Aslan lays the historical and theological bases for the development of Islam, before describing the life and time of the Prophet himself. Varying between present-tense narrative and detailed analysis, Aslan discusses the revelations themselves, whilst interweaving various historical facts into the tale.
Passing from the Prophet himself to the "Rightly Guided Caliphs", he explores the establishment of the hadith, presenting some interesting, though no doubt controversial, ideas on the inclusion of some of the apparently-more-contradictory of these hadiths. Presenting a full history of this interim period, he also describes the battles for succession in excellent detail, fully explaining the implications of these, and thereby lays the groundwork for a full discussion of Shi'ism. Using this as a springboard, he then analyses the leap between Shi'ism and Khomeinism, carefully interlocking facts and narrative to provide a thoughtful and in-depth critique of Islamic democracy in Iran. He also examines Sufism, explaining its connections with aspects of Islam, but also why some more mainstream thinkers believe it to involve aspects of associationism, rather than to see it as a pure mainfestation of Islam.
Aslan then looks at the rise of nationalism, primarily, though not exclusively, within the Arab world, and gives an excellent overview of the teachings and ideas of the main thinkers and movements of this period. He also examines some more contemporary thinkers, and discusses several ideas that are current within so-called political Islam today, including the nature of the state and the permissibility of democracy.
This book provides a comprehensive and accessible account of both Islamic history and Islamic political thought. The only disappointment in an otherwise meticulously researched and presented work is Aslan's treatment of the Indian Mutiny. Though admittedly one of the less glorious episodes of British history, he fails to do justice to the British victims - no mention is made of the brutal murders of women and children, which gave rise to the incredibly brutal executions he discusses at length, and he repeats the fallacy that cartridges were greased with pig fat, one of the rumours used at the time to encourage mutineers. That aside, though, his analysis of the British attitude is refreshing and intelligent, and thoroughly thought-provoking, but the combination of glaring error and serious omission meant that in good conscience I couldn't quite award five stars. This notwithstanding, I highly recommend this book, with the above caveat, and have given several copies to both friends and colleagues.
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24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must-read, 6 Sep 2006
Aslan's unputdownable offering suggests a rather different view of Islam as portrayed not only in the daily Western press, but also in bestselling offerings like Sam Harris's religo-phobic 'End of Faith'. According to Aslan, far from being a `Clash of Civilisations' in Sam Huntingdon's now famous words, the current religious tension that seems to be pitting Islam against the rest of the world is in fact an internal conflict to gain ideological control of the Islamic faith. Despite headline-grabbing atrocities, kidnappings and beheadings, the West and its citizens are merely bystanders in a bloody sectarian clash within the Moslem faith.
On Aslan's side is the weight of history and the casualty list. It is unarguable that more Moslems have died in sectarian violence since September 11 than people of any other religion, nation or ethnic background. More persuasive is Aslan's impartial and brutally honest survey of the origins and evolution of Islam. Not since the death of Mohammad has their been agreement within the Moslem faith on the principles of this religion. Widely differing interpretations of the Quran, the Prophet's life, and - importantly - the relationship between secular and clerical authority in managing the political affairs of Moslems, have led to such incompatible differences that it would be more correct to talk of many `Islams' rather than a single Islamic faith. Only the Shiite's recognise the authority of Ayatollah's and Imams; only the Sunni believe that religious and political authority should be distinct; Bin Laden's wahhabi faction, hated by both Shiite and Sunni alike, seeks primarily to eradicate moderate Islamic practices, rather than Americans, Christians or Jews. The Sufi sect - roundly condemned by all other Muslims - preach that Mohammad and the Quran are merely steps on the path to divine union. To claim, as Sam Harris does for instance, that Islam is united in its intolerance for the West may be missing the point. If Aslan is correct, Islam is united only in its intolerance for competing interpretations of Mohammad's life and work; the West is neither here nor there, except in so far as it takes a stance in support of one or the other ideology.
So what is the solution to this religious conflict that threatens us all, regardless of whether we are bystanders or not? Suppression is certainly not the answer. As Aslan wisely says, the more one tries to squelch a religion, the stronger it becomes.
Alas, Aslan's own remedy for ideological troubles offers little solace. Islam must undergo its own reformation to turn it into a pluralistic, secularised ideology that can incorporate both democracy and the moral teachings of the Quran, he says. However, almost fifteen hundred years of bloody conflict within the faith offer no paradigmatic example of how this might come about without violence. As Sam Harris grimly notes, in a world where fanatics now have the power of weapons of mass destruction, we can ill-afford the luxury of letting such a conflict play out to its natural conclusion.
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