Discovering Islam Making Sense of Muslim History and Society by Akbar S. Ahmed. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1988. pp. 251

Abstract

This book, written by Akbar Ahmed, is particularly apt and to the point.
The book’s title and subtitle seem, to this reviewer at least, an accurate reflection
of its content: it has an introduction also called “Discovering Islam”, then
two major sections (each divided into chapters of unequal length; the first
and longer on ”The Pattern of Muslim History” and the second on
”Contempomy Muslim Society” (with a conclusion again entitled “Discovering
Islam”). As Ahmed states at the outset, he writes as a committed participant
in, as well as an observer of, Islam, and furthermore, he makes no bones
about his “South Asian” (read ”Pakistani“) perspective and bias with respect
to Islam as a whole.
Ahmed has already observed in some of his earlier work, that there is
only one Islam, not many “islams” (contrary to the views asserted recently
by a number of non-Muslim students of the subject); and this is so despite
the wide range and disparity of Muslim societies around the globe. Neither
of these arguments is original with its present proponents. Ahmed puts forward
both his view of the Islamic ideal, as well as the way some Muslims order
their lives with respect to this ideal, with surprising force and vigor.
He states, “Economic, political and ethnic-social, cultural pressures act
to compromise notions of the ideal, thereby creating ambiguity around it.
The demarcation of Muslim societies is therefore not division between white
ideal and black non-ideal, but an ongoing relationship between the two marked
by areas of grey. Taken together the arguments will assist us in our search
for . . . an Islamic world-view of society and history” (p. 5). A further very
telling quote which reveals the book to be neither an apology for, nor an
attack on, the West (of which its author is admittedly and justifiably critical),
but a clear statement: ”While the twentieth century cannot reject Islam-it
is here to stay as a force; in turn, Islam must accept the twentieth century.
It will not go away, and rejection is the easy way out. Islam must come to
terms with the twentieth century; by doing so it will come to terms with
itself‘ (p. 8).
In the first section of the book we are taken on a tour of Islamic history.
It is of necessity selective, but both the wide-angle lens shots, as well as ...