Religion and Revolution Spiritual and Political Islam in Ernesto Cardenal By John Andrew Morrow (Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012. hbk. 339 pages.)

Abstract

In his Religion and Revolution: Spiritual and Political Islam in Ernesto Cardenal,
John Morrow has manifested his years-of-research incorporated knowledge
in Hispanic, Native American, and Arabic-Islamic studies to shed light
on two poorly understood themes – both in the East and, particularly, in the
West – via a specific narrative. The themes are, broadly speaking, those of
Sufism and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The narrative is the story of Reverend
Father Ernesto Cardenal, a Nicaraguan revolutionary Christian priest who had
progressively acquired some spiritual and revolutionary interests in Islam after
visiting certain Middle Eastern countries, especially Iran.
Whether Cardenal is seen as merely a medium for Morrow to express
his own findings on Sufism and Iran or as an end in itself is up to the reader.
Either way, Morrows’ on-the-whole impartial and unbiased interpretation of
Islam, Sufism, and Iran, indirectly through the personality and writings of
Cardenal, constitutes a calibre of work rarely seen or read in the western
media and literature. This is mostly due to its seemingly close, albeit academic,
sympathy with elements of Iran’s right “conservative” and “hardline”
elite. Perhaps that is why, at times, one feels that the author has stepped up
his defence a shadow too much. The manner he has raised and evaluated
some of the data he presents, as well as some of the rumours – against Sufism
and especially Iran – he refutes, clearly demonstrates that he has explored
and gained access to (1) the pristine image of Sufism and notable Sufis and ...