Islam: A Concise Introduction

Rating:
Summary: Fiction
Review: 1- The assertion that the apparent incoherence of the Koran is due to the assumption that the pouring of the heavenly Koran (The uncreated Koran) into the earthly Koran represented by the Arabic language was like pushing a thousand Truths into dozens of alphabets and had to result in such incoherence and anachronism, is not only laughable to the secular mind but also offensive to the orthodox scholar Muslims. Hey perhaps the immense Energy-Momentum Tensor associated with the huge satellite transmition resulted in Riemann-Christoffle tensor that caused such space time warp
2-The saying that Islam resulted in science movement is rather a historical mistake. At the time of Caliph Ummar when Egypt was conquered, he ordered his appointed governor to burn the Library of Alexandria on the ground that it was either contradicting the book of Allah { Koran ) or superflous to it. And As the historian Well noted (in his book short history of the world), it was only until the notion of the self-sufficiency in the Koran was set aside that Science started to flourish in the Arab empire. Indeed it was the caliph Maamoon who adopte the view that the Koran is just words any Arab can write the like thereof. Maamoon put obnoxious fundamenal shieks - insisting that Koran un created - in jails. Mammon enocurage Sience gave the jewish translators gold in weigh of what they translated from Greek to Arabic. Al-Khwarizmi,who gave Algebra its name, was a close friend to Maamon.
3- About the right of Women in Islam, that is also another misleading in the book. Of all the enemy and critic of Islam write, there is an incident no one - up to my kwoledge - has yet written about. Here is it: If man accuse another man or a woman of adultery and cannot bring another three acceptable 3 men witnesses , he must be lashed 80 times. However a husband can accuse his wife of adultery even if he cannot produce another three acceptable men witnesses. He just has to swear five times that she commited the act. Now she either addmit and face punishments or deny and swear five times that she didn't and he is lying :
"And for those who launch a charge against their wives, and have (in support) no evidence but their own,- let one of them testify four times by Allah that he is of those who speak the truth; "And the fifth (oath) (should be) that he solemnly invoke the curse of Allah on himself if he tell a lie. But it would avert the punishment from the wife, if she bears witness four times (with an oath) By Allah, that (her husband) is telling a lie. And the fifth (oath) should be that she solemnly invokes the wrath of Allah on herself if (her accuser) is telling the truth." 24:6-9 Koran Yousef Ali translation. The drama does not end here. after the divorce the man can go and get marriage. The woman NOT. According to the Islamic legislation, she must wait until Alah shows a sigen that her huband was lying. The sigen could be as a disease that hits him...etc. Of course that doesn't happen in islamic society today.
4- The author also try to accomodate that the Koran and the Bible are both right. If two things are contradicting, only two conclusion are possible: 1-) One is false 2-) Both are false. An Arab poet, Al-Maary, who was 300 years after Muhammad, once said:
Corruption is people's first nature
And in hallucination all religions are equal

Rating:
Summary: A Muslim perspective ... Thank you Huston
Review: As an American Christian who diligently studied Islam, lived with Muslims abroad, and then became Muslim himself, I found this book a positive introduction to Islam for the modern, Western mind.

Huston Smith has described Islam in a respectful and fair manner in a way that is difficult to find among nonMuslim authors. In my study of Islam I found that even many life long Muslim writers from outside the Western cultures are not able to describe Islam with such effectiveness.

Islam is often viewed only in negative ways, or in detail of its physical forms alone. Huston Smith is able to see beyond the ignorant sterotypes and begin to express the emotional depth and value of Islam's spiritual wisdom.

The book is intended as an introduction, and is exactly that. It only takes about ninety minutes to read, but sheds much light on a complex subject. Hopefully it is enough to inspire readers to learn more about Islam through even more effective and thorough channels, such as speaking with Muslims at a local mosque. The best source is always the direct source.

So I thank Huston Smith, and recommend this book to all those interested in beginning to understand the true nature of Islam.

Rating:
Summary: Islam 101: A course in Islamic Studies.
Review: This book, although short in terms of number of pages, is nevertheless extremely rich and amazingly eloquent in its presentation and explanations of Islam, from the life of Muhammad, to the Quran, to Islamic teachings and philosophy, and ending with a brief introduction to Sufism (Mysticism).

This book highly builds on the chapter that was dedicated to Islam in Huston Smith's The World's Religions. But Mr. Smith, after extracting that chapter and making a separate book out of it, adds to its contents discussions that relate to current world events such as the New York and Washington events in September 2001. He also adds many useful discussions regarding misconceptions about Islamic teachings like the issue of Women, Jihad, Polygamy, and many other issues that should highly interest any reader who seeks basic - but strong - foundations in Islamic Theology and Philosophy.

The bibliography and the "suggestions for further reading" part at the end of book is extremely helpful for anyone who persues an academic background in Islamic Studies.

This book will no doubt start to appear in college courses that cover the issue of Islam as a required reading assignment.

All in all, an excellent and a highly recommended book that is considered a masterpiece in the field of Comparative Religion Scholarship.