A Young Muslim's Guide to the Modern World

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Summary: Islam
Review: As a teenage Muslim I find this book great Spruatily and Mentally. I recomend this book for Muslims and Non-Muslim Teens.

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Summary: Absurd!
Review: Honestly speaking, if producing such materials helps to alleviate the obsessive inferiority complex of Muslim writers like this author and other readers and sympathizers, before the advancements and magnificence of Western culture; well let it be.
The Islamic world is drowned in ignorance and misery. Not a single contribution is being made to the progress of science, technology, art, humanity, etc. by these people, the only gift is terrorism.
The author maliciously downplays the role of modernity in today's people's lives. I guess he wants to have an Islamic government run over all today's civilized world, may be something like Taliban to implement all the Islamic codes and culture.
Well sorry pal that's not possible. But the important point is that the author himself is an immigrant or a refugee who fled the Islamic culture of his own birthplace, that's the irony.

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Summary: For all young Muslims this book is a must
Review: I believe that for Muslims all over the world but especially those of us who live and are educated in the West it is imperative to understand our own intellectual and religous traditions. The reason is that without this knowledge we will not be able to resist the forces of secularism, modernism, progressivism and the other ideas that pose the idea that this world is the only one and that there is nothing beyond it. The ideas of secularism pose an especially grave threat to young Muslims living in the West and going to Universities where moral relativism and liberalism is the orthodoxy of the moment. Syed Hossein Nasr writes of a clear need for Muslims to know both the Quran and the life of the Blessed Prophet(Peace be upon him) and the civilization that grew out of those two divine sources. But equally important he wants young Muslims to undertand the reality of the West in order to make a coherent and logical Islamically valid response without apologetics and reliance ! ! on second hand scolarship. In effect he is asking Muslims to be "Occidentalists" in the same manner that many Westerners have been "Orientalists". This will involve a study of Christianity, Judaism, Secularism and their development over the past centuries. With this understanding by educated Muslims we will be better able to show that the Muslim world view has a valid alternative both spiritually socially and economically as well as politically. I would recommend this book to all people both Muslim and Non-Muslim to read. May Allah guide us to His path and peace and blessings upon the last of His Messengers Muhammad and his family and companions. Salam 'Alaikum wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuhuh. (Peace be upon you and the mercy and blessings of God)

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Summary: Testable hyposthesis
Review: It is a favorite conceit of Muslims to claim that the West lacks a religious or moral component to its culture. Islam rewards outward conduct, such as repetitive and mindless prayers and the wearing of particular costumes as an act of holiness. When Muslims don't see Westerners following their outward habits of holiness they conclude no spirituality exists.
Islam is in danger because of the clearly false tenets that it can no longer defend in the light of day. Case in point, the Bukhari Hadith in which Mohammed expressly and unambiguously states that "women are dificient in intellect." This is what is known in science as a testable hypothesis, it can be tested and proven true or false. Everywhere this assertion is proven false, over and over and over again. Given this, Mohammed's credibility is shattered. This is the culture that sanctifies domestice violence, polygamy and the suppression of the female intellect. The uprising of Islamic fervor is just a protest against the end of an era, an unsustainable ideology coming to an end, all for the world's good.

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Summary: Introductory Readings for teens and a text book for others
Review: Thank you Professor Nasr, this book fills a scholarly gap.

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Summary: Every English speaking Muslim should have this book!
Review: This book by Dr. Nasr is a book which was waiting to be written and it could not have been written by a more qualified person. I learnt a lot about the intellectual history of Islamic thought from this book (philosophy, mystical ideas, speculative theology) and how it has developed throughout the ages to the present. I also was very very impressed by the scholarly yet succint way in which the major philosophical and intellectual movements which shaped the history of the West were presented. This again greatly increased my knowledge. These first two sections were excellent. The third section was not as strong as the other two--how Muslims should respond to the Western dominance at present and a comparative overview--as it was too brief. This though is an excellent book. I hope that Dr. Nasr writes another version of this book--for adults this time following the same format but including a lot more detail and references and bibliography.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: This book excellently deals with every subject it takes up. I have read many books on history of philosophy, islamic history, etc. And this book seems to be writen by somebody, who perefectly transcends the final word that has been said on any subject the book deals with. Actually, Nasr is my hero since I have read his books (since last week.)