religion and secrecy || islam: its history, teaching, and practicesby s. a. nigosian

American Academy of Religion

Islam: Its History, Teaching, and Practices by S. A. NigosianReview by: Liyakat TakimJournal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 74, No. 2, Religion and Secrecy (Jun.,2006), pp. 536-539Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4094057 .

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536 Journal of the American Academy of Religion

society" (146). However, they add, "globalization could be beneficial if Muslims learn how to make use of its scientific and technological contents in the advance- ment of their own societies" (147).

In chapter 12, Fred A. Reed explains "Globalization: Its Meaning, Scope and Impact in the Light of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi's Damascus Sermon" (148-156). Reed concludes that in "his Damascus Sermon and the documents that accom- pany it," Nursi identifies "the ills of the age" as those ills can be treated and overcome through Muslim brotherhood, "common humanity and cultural dialogue" (156).

Concluding the final part of the collection are chapters by Necati Aydin on "Virtue versus Decadence: The Struggle of Civilizations within the Global Village," Durmus Hocaoglu on "Islam and Modernity," Wolf D. Ahmed Aries on "The Gesture of Said Nursi as a Challenge to Modernity," and Markham on "Rethinking Globalization: Hardt and Negri in Conversation with Said Nursi" (202-211).

There are some shortcomings in this collection. The introduction of the book contains some controversial, polemical, and contradictory statements, namely "a Muslim is always better than a non-Muslim (even a non-Muslim scholar of Islam)" in teaching Islam (xv); "in America today the experts on Islam ... are the opponents (xviii);" "This book is intended to be a corrective to the Pipes world- view. The book partly agrees with Pipes in two respects" (xvii). A technical drawback is the book fails to use the transliteration system for Arabic terms and some Arabic terms are italicized. In addition, there is not a uniform format for the presentation of the chapters. Chapter 13 for instance has a bibliography at the end whereas other chapters use a variety of citation methods including end- notes, in text citation, and footnotes. Lastly, the book could stand better copy editing as there are spelling mistakes such as "indendence" (49), "withdew" (50), "clams" (53), "indentified" (59), and "Daijal" (134) and some other errors as well.

doi:10.1093/jaarel/1f072 Ibrahim Abu Bakar Advance Access publication April 12, 2006 National University of Malaysia

Islam: Its History, Teaching, and Practices. By S. A. Nigosian. Indiana University Press, 2004. 178 pages. $19.95.

Nigosian makes it clear in the preface of his book that his basic intent is to outline the essential aspects of Islam as a living force. The author does not claim to provide a systematic exposition of Islam's history or philosophy. Rather, his focus is to identify a great world religion and recognize its contributions to human civilization. However, apart from a couple of paragraphs, the book has little to say regarding Muslim contribution to human civilization or the scientific achievements of medieval Muslim scholars.

This brief introduction to Islam is based on secondary (primarily western) sources. It is organized around seven topics: the life of Muhammad;



Book Reviews 537

post-Muhammadan Islamic political development and the creation and expan- sion of the Muslim empire; the emergence of sectarian Islam (Sunnis, Shi'is, and Sufis); Muslim scripture (the Qur'an, sunna, and hadith); the Islamic legal tradi- tion (shari'a); the five articles of faith and the five pillars of Islam; and other religious observations and festivals. Nigosian also examines the beliefs and practices of Muslims in their social, cultural, and historical settings.

In addition, the author includes features that help the reader understand and remember important Islamic dates, events, and concepts. These include key dates, Muslim dynasties, the ninety-nine names of God, numerous photographs, a glossary, and a bibliography.

A cursory glance at the contents of the book will indicate that the scope and length of the book necessitate that the author sketches out rather than fully argue for the material he presents. The large amount of material covered in a short book inevitably means that important issues are treated in a rather cursory manner and significant details are compromised. If the work is to be used as a textbook for an introductory course in Islam, supplementary readings like Frederick Denny's Introduction to Islam or Karen Armstrong's Islam will be required to provide a more nuanced discussion of the subject matter and to fill significant gaps that appear in the topics covered in this work.

In the first chapter of his work, Nigosian examines the Muslim historical sources based on a historical-chronological approach. It is evident from his discussion on the principal Muslim and non-Muslim sources on Muhammad's life and character that the author approaches his study with certain assumptions regarding the tendentious character of early Muslim sources. The general thesis projected is one of the unreliability of eighth and ninth century sources whose reading of earlier versions are seen as anachronistic.

Nigosian's basic historical-chronological approach also means that he is not able to couch his discussion under any theoretical model or framework. For example, he starts his work by discussing the role of religious leaders who cre- ated faiths that have endured for centuries. The discourse on the roles and functions of the founders of religion would have been greatly enhanced with a discussion or even a mention of Weberian concepts of charismatic leadership and the routinization of charisma. However, such theoretical constructs are largely absent in this work.

Nigosian's work also glosses over important facts that need proper elucida- tion. The author's view that "the early Muslims were looking for a political successor to Muhammad since a religious successor was unthinkable" is not tenable (18). In fact, the caliphate during the times of the rightly guided caliphs (632-661) was conceived along politico-religious lines. The caliphs undertook many religious and political functions of the Prophet especially because there was, as yet, no distinct group of scholars that could occupy a separate religious office. At least in the early period of Islamic history, there was no distinction between the offices of the 'ulama' (scholarly elite) and that of political author- ity, the caliphate.

Similarly, Nigosian portrays the election of 'Uthman as the successor of 'Umar as a simple choice between two contenders. It is important to realize



538 Journal of the American Academy of Religion

that given the crisis at the death of the Prophet, 'Umar had hoped to formu- late an acceptable method of caliphal appointment. He did this by instituting the shura (council). Nigosian does not even mention the shura and that the composition of the committee and the rules that 'Umar stipulated were heavily skewed against 'Ali. Furthermore, in his discussion on the appointment of a caliph, the author does not mention the significant observation that religious and political considerations were important factors in deter- mining the succession of a caliph and that these factors were often mitigated by tribal customs and issues regarding social status and closeness to the Prophet.

Equally problematic is Nigosian's hasty assertion that the 'Abbasids equated the caliphate with Islamic orthodoxy and appointed religious scholars and teachers as judges and legal advisors (27). The precise nature of the interaction between the political and religious authorities in 'Abbasid times has been dis- puted in recent western scholarship on the topic. Crone and Hinds, for example, have argued for an ongoing, acrimonious relationship between the 'Abbasid caliphs and the scholars and that the termination of the inquisition (initiated by the caliph al-Ma'mun) signaled the scholar's triumph over the caliphs after a protracted struggle.

In addition, the author employs ambiguous terms without explicating what group they refer to. For example, he states on page 16 that Muslims believe that the reference to Shiloh in the book of Genesis (49:10) refers to the coming of Muhammad. No source is cited to substantiate this claim nor are we told which particular Muslim group has advanced such a notion. The author also coins terms arbitrarily without qualifying or explaining them. Thus, we read of orthodox, pious, rationalist, and even of Muslims (without any adjective) with no indication as to whom they refer. Are orthodox Muslims the same as pious Muslims? Are pious Muslims also rationalists? Such arbitrary usage of terms engenders much confusion concerning the beliefs held by different Muslim groups. Thus, according to the author, pious Muslims believe that the Qur'an is a record of what the Prophet Muhammad said while in a state of ecstatic seizure (67). We are not told what non-pious Muslims believe in this regard. On page 66, we are told that Muslims insist that the Qur'an was revealed in Arabic; however, pious Muslims believe that the words and the chapters of the Qu'ran are inimitable.

Equally confusing is his statement that orthodox Muslims believe that Jesus was translated to heaven whereas some rationalist Muslims believe that he was rescued by his supporters and then sent to the East (probably India) where he died (76). This reflects the beliefs espoused by the Ahmadis, whom the author identifies with rationalist Muslims. We are also told that orthodox Muslims believe in the Preserved Tablet (85:21, 80:13). In fact, all Muslims who accept the Qur'an as their Holy Scripture believe in the Preserved Tablet, whether they are orthodox or not.

The author often confuses between beliefs that are based on Muslim sacred texts and those derived from popular culture. A good example of the confusion between official dogma and popular belief is his assertion that during the



Book Reviews 539

first ten days of the month of Muharram, Shi'is wear mourning clothes and refrain from shaving and bathing (126). In fact, such views have no basis in Shi'i theology or law. They are probably based on the beliefs of some local Shi'i groups.

The work also suffers from glaring errors that should be corrected in future editions. Contrary to what the author states, Shi'is do not reject the principle of ijma' (consensus). On the contrary, they insist that the validity of ijma' is contingent on the inclusion of the opinion of an infallible imam. Shi'i theology even discusses how the twelfth imam's opinion can be discerned during his prolonged occultation. Similarly, Shi'is do not consider pilgrimage to Kerbala and other Shi'i holy cities to be more important than pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca (49). Equally puzzling is the author's contention that Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Qummi (d. 903) is the founder of the Imami school of law. In fact, Ja'far al-Sadiq (d. 765) founded the Imami legal tradi- tion and functioned within the scholastic milieu when the imams of the emerging Sunni legal system, like Abu Hanifa, Malik Anas, and al-Shaybani, were formulating their own legal points. Equally erroneous is the author's statement that special prayers at times of natural calamities, funeral services, an eclipse of the moon, and annual festivals are offered not as an obligatory duty but as a sign of sincere piety. In fact, these genres of prayers are obligatory to perform.

Overall, it is accurate to state that this concise book will prove beneficial to only those who wish to have a quick and yet superficial understanding of Islam. However, a reading of supplementary texts is highly recommended.

doi: 10.1093/jaarel/lf 073 Liyakat Takim Advance Access publication April 12, 2006 University of Denver

Just War on Terror. By Jean Bethke Elshtain. Basic Books, 2004. 251 pages. $14.00.

In this book, Jean Bethke Elshtain applies revised Augustinian criteria for just war to the US war on terror. This is therefore a book that pursues the diffi- cult task of moving beyond the relatively clean world of theory to more compli- cated questions concerning decision making and consequences in the actual world. Elshtain's thesis is that the US war on terror, exemplified by the invasion of Afghanistan, is just. The 2004 edition adds an epilogue assessing the invasion of Iraq and argues that the Iraq invasion, like that of Afghanistan, meets the criteria for a just war.

The strongest part of the book is the idea that with power come ethical obli- gations. Elshtain is certainly right that the Taliban and Saddam Hussein govern- ments were brutal, and critics of the war should recognize squarely that to defend the innocent from terrorism is a state's moral duty. Moreover, as Elshtain says, there is such a thing as a "false peace": a nation that is not at war



religion and secrecy || islam: its history, teaching, and practicesby s. a. nigosian

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