Islam

03 Oct 1994 12:01

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I shan't try to explain Islam here.

Cultural influence in medieval Italy; in Renaissance Italy; in Sardinia.

One of the most interesting spectacles awaiting the observer of American politics and culture is the rise of Islam. There are somewhere between five and eight million Muslims in the country right now, depending on who is counting and how strictly "Muslim" is defined. Even by the more conservative estimates, therefore, there are already more Muslims than Presbyterians, Episcopalians or even Mormons, and sometime early in the 21st century (that is, the mid-15th) Islam will be the second-largest religion in the United States, surpassing Judaism. The contortions this will produce on the parts of politicians, pundits and colleges are delicious to contemplate, and will be even more amusing to watch. The struggle to find a replacement for "Judeo-Christian" alone will doubtless provide years of entertainment. ("Peoples of the Book" is a natural choice, but by no means assured.) What to teach about the Crusades will also be fun. Pundits and authors of textbooks for college freshmen will solemnly declaim that, since the Muslim world has a Semitic, monotheist religion and inherited Greek philosophy, it is of course a part of "Western Civilization" --- how could one think otherwise? And so on. --- I don't think this will be a bad thing, you understand; it will just be deeply hypocritical, and very funny. [Passage written c. 1998.]

See also: Afghanistan; the Berbers; Central Asia; Indian History; Islamic Law; Islamicate Civilization, from the Beginning to European Colonialism; Islamism; Ottoman Empire; Sufism.

Recommended (misc., inadequate, etc.):
• The Qu'ran, of course; the best English translations I've encountered is A. J. Arberry's The Koran Interpreted, but Marmaduke Pickthall's The Meaning of the Glorious Koran is OK, and has, perhaps, extra value, inasmuch as Pickthall became a Muslim in the course of making his translation.
• Tamim Ansary, Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes
• Richard W. Bulliet [Disclaimer: my wife's thesis adviser.]
  • Islam: The View from the Edge
  • The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization
• Ernest Gellner, Muslim Society
• Marshall G. S. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization [One of the best works of history I've ever encountered. There is nothing of comparable concision and value about western civilization.]
• Pervez Hoodbhoy, Islam and Science: Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality
• Fatima Mernissi
• John Renard (ed.), Islamic Theological Themes: A Primary Source Reader

To read (in need of further subdivision and even more specialized notebooks):
• Megan Brankley Abbas, Whose Islam? The Western University and Modern Islamic Thought in Indonesia
• Akbar S. Ahmed, Islam Under Siege
• Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, Toward an Islamic Reformation: Civil Liberties, Human Rights, and International Law
• M. J. Akbar, The Shade of Swords: Jihad and Conflict between Islam and Christianity
• Muzaffar Alam, The Languages of Political Islam: India 1200--1800
• Avner Ben-Zaken, Cross-Cultural Scientific Exchanges in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1560--1660
• Alexander Bevilacqua, The Republic of Arabic Letters: Islam and the European Enlightenment
• Anthony Black, History of Islamic Political Thought: From the Prophet to the Present
• John R. Bowen
  • Islam Across Cultures
  • Islam, Law, and Equality in Indonesia: An Anthropology of Public Reasoning
• Daniel Brown, Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought
• William Gervase Clarence-Smith, Islam and the Abolition of Slavery
• David Clingingsmith, Asim Ijaz Khwaja and Michael Kremer, "Estimating the Impact of The Hajj: Religion and Tolerance in Islam's Global Gathering", Quarterly Journal of Economics 124 (2009): 1133--1170
• David Cook
  • Contemporary Muslim Apocalyptic Literature
  • Studies in Muslim Apocalyptic
• Michael L. Cook
  • Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought
  • Forbidding Wrong in Islam: An Introduction [looks like a self-vulgarization of Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong.]
• Alireza Doostdar, The Iranian Metaphysicals: Explorations in Science, Islam, and the Uncanny
• Humberto Garcia, Islam and the English Enlightenment, 1670--1840
• H. A. R. Gibb
  • Mohammedanism: An Historical Survey
  • Studies in the Civilization of Islam
• Dru C. Gladney, Muslim Chinese: Ethnic Nationalism in the People's Republic
• Jack Goody, Islam in Europe
• Michael Gomez, Black Crescent: The Experience and Legacy of African Muslims in the Americas
• Oleg Grabar, The Mediation of Ornament
• Mona Hassan, Longing for the Lost Caliphate: A Transregional History
• Kaye Haw, Educating Muslim Girls: Shifting Discourses
• Jan P. Hogendijk and Abdelhamid I. Sabra (eds.), The Enterprise of Science in Islam
• David Levering Lewis, God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215
• Laura U. Marks, Enfoldment and Infinity: An Islamic Genealogy of New Media Art
• Louise Marlow, Hierarchy and Egalitarianism in Islamic Thought
• Nabil Matar, Islam in Britain, 1558--1685
• John Renard
  • Islam and Christianity: Theological Themes in Comparative Perspective
  • Tales of God's Friends: Islamic Hagiography in Translation
• Chase F. Robinson, Islamic Historiography
• Franz Rosenthal, The Classical Heritage in Islam
• Annemarie Schimmel, Deciphering the Signs of God: A Phenomenological Approach to Islam
• Recep Senturk, Narrative Social Structure: Anatomy of the Hadith Transmission Network, 610--1505
• Stephen J. Shoemaker, Creating the Qur'an: A Historical-Critical Study
• Abdolkarim Soroush, Reason, Freedom, and Democracy in Islam: Essential Writings
• Najib Ullah, Islamic Literature: An Introductory History with Selections
• Brannon Wheeler, Mecca and Eden: Ritual, Relics, and Territory in Islam