A brief but thorough consideration of Muslim devotion.
A sober defense of a theologically moderate form of Islam.
Some critics see Islam—and, by extension, the whole of the Quran—as a symbol of unrepentant extremism and atavistic contempt for modernity. But Ali, in this debut, highlights how such interpretations are based on ignorance, political appropriation, and willful distortion. He says that his book’s “sole purpose” is “refuting false charges against Islam,” and he begins by taking on criticisms that former Muslims–turned-apostates have leveled in well-known publications. Against their charges, Ali contends that Islam is essentially a religion of peace and that the Quran commands its disciples to treat non-Muslims respectfully; he also impugns both the motives and the moral credibility of Islam’s detractors. The author presents a much more moderate and diverse understanding of Sharia, which is neither univocal—each school adheres to its own version—nor brutal, if properly based upon the Quran’s teachings. He also counters specific criticisms directed at the Prophet Muhammad and discusses the challenges of formulating a consensus on a religion that’s so ideologically splintered into warring camps. Ali devotes two chapters to articulating a sound exegesis of the Quran—one that fully considers the cultural and scriptural context of every sentence. The study culminates in biographical accounts of three imams who he says lived stellar lives that were faithful to Islamic teachings. The author is typically rigorous and scrupulously debunks a catalog of common misconceptions. For example, he provides compelling evidence that denigration of women, which some critics flippantly associate with Islam, is a cultural failing that isn’t encouraged by Muslim doctrine. Sometimes the author indulges in hyperbolic caricature himself; for example, he broadly accuses atheist thought of having “a complete lack of sensitivity and empathy.” However, more often than not, his scholarship is meticulous, and he ably defends Islamic theology. Overall, this is a timely book that’s both edifying and refreshingly temperate.
A brief but thorough consideration of Muslim devotion.Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5245-1699-4
Page Count: 302
Publisher: Xlibris
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A courageous, often profound, and extraordinary attempt by one of England's best historians to cut through the pessimism and parochialism of the profession and to find the bonds of humanity underlying its conventional divisions. Zeldin (History/Oxford Univ.; The French, 1983, etc.) ranges with prodigious learning over different civilizations and epochs, dealing with subjects as disparate as why men and women find it difficult to talk to one another and why political scientists have misunderstood the animal kingdom. His method is anything but academic: He starts most chapters with an interview or description of a person, usually French and usually a woman (``because many women seem to me to be looking at life with fresh eyes'') before broadening the discussion to analyze the nature of the concerns expressed, their historical origins, and the ways in which different civilizations have dealt with them. In doing so, he raises some questions shunned by the academic world and asks others more likely to be raised in magazines and self-help books: ``Is it inevitable,'' he asks, ``that as women become increasingly adventurous and have ever higher expectations of life, they will find men less and less adequate?'' Why are humans ``still so awkward...with even 40 per cent of Americans...complaining that they are too shy to speak freely?'' In answering questions like this, he repeatedly produces the unusual fact or the revisionist view: Writing of Islamic societies, for instance, he notes that sociability, not war, is considered the defining element of the good life. Ultimately, this is a call for a sense of the richness of life and for optimism, which he defines as ``awareness that despite nastiness and stupidity, there is something else too. Pessimism is resignation, an inability to find a way out.'' Not always as skeptical as he might be (Stalin and Hitler, he says, ``remained desperately hungry for respect''), but no short review can do justice to the richness, humor, humanity, and range of this important book.
Pub Date: Jan. 25, 1995
ISBN: 0-06-017160-X
Page Count: 416
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1994
A one-sided defense of the most controversial organization in the Catholic Church by Italian journalist Messori, whose interviews with John Paul II form the text of the pope's bestselling Crossing the Threshold of Hope. Opus Dei, founded in Spain in 1928 by a young priest, Jose Maria Escriva de Balaguer, now boasts over 80,000 members worldwide and the special favor of the pope. The organization provides a system of spiritual guidance to help members, mainly married laypeople known as supernumeraries, practice an unobtrusive Christian idealism in everyday secular, including professional, settings. Opus Dei priests are drawn only from the male numeraries, the group's inner circle whose members take a vow of celibacy. Messori describes the outstanding University of Navarre and the various student hostels and colleges that are open to people of all religions or none at all. Despite his claim to objectivity, Messori unabashedly idealizes the organization and its founder. Rather than following up in true journalistic fashion on the firsthand accounts of people who claim to have been harmed by Opus Dei, Messori is content to rebut criticisms merely by quoting statements of official policy and Opus Dei spokesmen, one of whom has written the introduction to this book. Messori writes off any criticism of Opus Dei as coming from malcontents and unorthodox Catholics, ignoring the fact that many devout believers, including bishops, have voiced concern about the organization's recruiting methods, its treatment of women, and the use of spiritual direction as a means of mind control (see Maria del Carmen Tapia, Beyond the Threshold, p. 788). Messori's text is poorly translated into cumbersome and at times incoherent English (e.g., ``Many have not forgiven Opus Dei for its opposition, or fealty to the Church.'') Messori's uncritical approach serves only to reinforce the authoritarian image of Opus Dei and raises more questions than it answers.
Pub Date: Oct. 2, 1997
ISBN: 0-89526-450-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1997
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