Islam: A Very Short Introduction

Ordered for a college course on religions. Interesting and informative.

Before 9/11 I had never heard of Islam or Muslims, but since then this religion and its followers are omnipresent. I hear either about the Islamic world, the Middle East, or Muslims on a daily basis. Often this news relates to the constant fighting taking place in the Middle East. This may be the image created by the media, but it was the image I had and still do to a degree and a driving force in my reason for buying and reading this book.I am happy with the book and think it definitely taught me a thing or two about Islam. I recommend it to anyone who knows little to nothing about the religion and is looking to further their knowledge of Islam.I gave it 4/5 stars because although I liked it. It did not blow my mind.I hope this helps.

good

good

I got this book after taking a religion class in university because I wanted to have a better understanding of Islam. I found this book to be extremely biased and it focuses heavily on criticizing Islam in politics. The author is a journalist, and the book reads like an exceedingly long news segment about why Islam sucks and has no place in current times. It tells the reader very little about the religion itself or it's teachings. He simply runs through a quick definition of the five pillars and a couple of religious movements before going back to a political rant. I've learned more about Islam by reading wikipedia articles than I learned from this worthless book. Don't buy it.

Essentially, this book presents a concise history of Islam, Islamic religion and movements as well as the Islamic law and its impact on Islamic life. Due to lack of background information, many topics are not discernible.The Quran is the speech of God dictated without human editing. Together with Muhammad the Prophet's custom (Sunna), they are the primary source of divine law in Islam. Apart from enforcing God's commands, the purpose of the law is to regulate the affairs of men. It does not recognized corporate entities and also impedes economic and political development. No islamic society was governed exclusively according to Islamic law; the Islamic law was supplemented by local customary laws.There are many legal inequalities facing women. For example, women are restricted the right of unilateral divorce; the law of inheritance favors males over females and inferiority of woman's testimony in certain legal proceedings. On the other hand, a man's right to sexual satisfaction is divinely mandated. Men's sexual privileges are taken further by means of the temporary marriage contract which may be signed for a fixed period of time as a form of legalized prostitution!

This is an excellent introduction to an understanding of the position and the role of Islam in the contemporary world. The author does not evade the difficult debate about the relationship between the West and the Islamic world, but succeeds in creating a broader perspective on this controversial issue. One can only regret that this is not the most accessible volume in the "Very Short Introduction" series. It requires substantial background knowledge to follow the author in his argumentation. A little more basic information about the facts of Islamic religion and its history would have helped considerably.

Brand New, came at once.