Discovering Islam

by Akbar Ahmed

Now reissued with a new introduction, Discovering Islam is a classic account of how the history of Islam and its relations with the West have shaped Islamic society today. Islam is often caricatured as aggressive and fanatic. Written in the tradition of Ibn Khaldun, this readable and wide-ranging book balances that image, uncovers the roots of Islamic discontent and celebrates the sources of its strength. From the four "ideal Caliphs" who succeeded the Prophet to the refugee camps of Peshawar, an objective picture emerges of the main features of Muslim history and the compulsions of Muslim society.

Genres: Islam, History, Religion, Nonfiction, Sociology

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Akbar Salahuddin Ahmed, is a Pakistani-American academic, author, poet, playwright, filmmaker and former diplomat. He currently holds the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies and is Professor of International Relations at the American University in Washington, D.C.Immediately prior, he taught at Princeton University as served as a Visiting Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He also taught at Harvard University and was a Visiting Scholar at the Department of Anthropology. Ahmed was the First Chair of Middle East and Islamic Studies at the US Naval Academy, Annapolis, and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. In 2004 Ahmed was named District of Columbia Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. A former Pakistani High Commissioner to the UK and Ireland, Ahmed was a member of the Civil Service of Pakistan and served as Political Agent in South Waziristan Agency and Commissioner in Baluchistan. He also served as the Iqbal Fellow (Chair of Pakistan Studies) at the University of Cambridge. An anthropologist and scholar of Islam. He completed his MA at Cambridge University and received his PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He has been called "the world's leading authority on contemporary Islam" by the BBC.

Reviews

[Sam Shah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first book by the author Akbar S Ahmed, on Islam with an anthropological perspective. I must say author did a fine job of writing such an informative book, depicting the progressive side of Islam which has a lot of tolerance and forbearance in it. Book tells her readers about the rationality which is inherent in Islam but somehow lost by Muslims today. Author does indulge in criticism but his is the constructive criticism with minimum confrontation. It’s a worth read for all those who believe that there is a rational and progressive side of Islam still to be rediscovered. At the end I must say that its an interesting read, a very neutral approach towards every fragment of Islam.

[Sam Norton]

Kind of all over the place, but an enjoyable read nonetheless.

[Sam Shah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first book by Akbar S Ahmed, on Islam with anthropological perspective. I must say author did a fine job of writing such an informative book, depicting the progressive side of Islam, which has a lot of tolerance and forbearance in it. Book tells her readers about the rationality which is inherent in Islam, but somehow lost by Muslims. Author does indulge in criticism but his is the constructive criticism with minimum confrontation. It’s a worth read for all those who believe that there is a rational and progressive side of Islam to be rediscovered. At the end i must say that this book is an interesting read, a very neutral approach towards every fragment of Islam.

[Saifullah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good. This to me is a sister book with Tamim Ansary's Destiny Disrupted. They both attempt to make sense of the past and present of Islam. And from an insider vantage point. Where this one is academic and more centralized about south Asian Islam, Destiny Disrupted is unacademic and therefore more fun to read for me.

[Stephan Naro · Rating 1 out of 5]

Glories over muslim conquests then whimpers lingeringly when the houses of cards inevitably crumble. Basically, Ahmed thinks that increasing adherence to the imaginary being he calls “God” is such a good thing that doing so through military conquest gives him no qualms whatever. He is open about the use of violence being an important form of jihad. It may be useful throughout the book to bear in mind that in English we say 'Submission' where in Arabic they same 'Islam'; and 'Submitter' for 'Muslim'. (One impression I am left with is that Submission continues in the tradition of glorification of people like Alexander and Caesar.)

Claims Sufism to be the cream of the religion. Nietzsche and others would have plenty to say against Sufism's anti-life aspects, but more importantly, Ahmed himself, as well as Malise Ruthven (Islam in the World), provide examples of Sufism's military and political endeavours (which might explain Ahmed's approval...). Claims of miracles and magic meet with his approval.

Documents some humiliations experienced by Submitters in interactions with their British colonial masters with details of “shocking” trivialities. Which re-awakens my curiosity as to what happened to the people conquered by Submitters. Doesn't he care? Were they not invited to socialise with their masters such that they could be shocked at the silliness of their conquerors? Something else I found sorely lacking from his account of Submitter conquests is what life was like before Submission exercised its tender mercies, and how life was ... uhhhhh, “improved” under Submitter lordship.

He provides considerably more detail once he gets round to the modern world - following a pattern: broad sunlit uplands; murky cesspools. Reflecting another pattern: Submission is perfect; Submitters are imperfect. You could say: Imagination is perfect; Imaginers are imperfect. That pattern is broken in the section on women, whose problems are blamed on tribal customs and on colonialism, with lamentations that the “Submissionic ideal” is not being lived up to. This “ideal”, deriving from the early days of Submission, is never clearly spelled out - presumably we have to read a different book for that - but some comments are possible and I can't help think that any western reader who gets to compare “Submissionic ideals” with their own experience is going to be underwhelmed. It may well be that Submission's inheritance laws are better than tribal customs, but they simply don't measure up to western standards. And inheritance is likely not top on the list of women's concerns. Where Ahmed credits Benazir Bhutto's exalted political power to Submission's positive conditions for women, I humbly point to the fact that her family has DYNASTIC power, having “held the leadership of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), since its inception in 1967” [Wikipedia].

We are told that knowledge is a part of the ideal, but that implies that there is christian knowledge, Hindu knowledge, and Marxist knowledge in parallel with his preferred Submissionic knowledge. Which either entails contradictions between them, or demands that Submitters restrict their knowledge - a perversion of knowledge. If you truly pursue knowledge, you will not be able to accept any religious claims whatever. When in the next section Ahmed tries to sell me Submissionic anthropology he acknowledges this issue of different types of anthropology - but since those others do exist he assures me that his corruption of the field won't be a problem.

Whether an author directs his writings according to the hypno-cult of christianity or Submission the result is severely wanting. In addition to seeking information on Submission itself, including its “ideals”, I suggest the book by Ruthven mentioned earlier, A History of the Arab Peoples by Hourani, and The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise by Fernández-Morera.

[Benz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boleh dikatakan antara buku terbaik dibaca tentang Islam dari sudut antropologi yang diulasnya tanpa jargon yang pelik. Akbar S. Ahmed, antara pemikir yang kurang dikenali, meskipun dia tidaklah begitu berkobar melantunkan ideologi seperti Maududi atau Asghar Ali. Mungkin itu nasib mereka yang tidak begitu berkobar (dan lebih rileks). Selain pembacaannya yang begitu meluas dan mendalam, penulisannya dibuat sesantai yang mungkin hasil perjalanannya. Kekagumannya pada dua cendekiawan besar Islam iaitu Al-Biruni dan Ibn Khaldun, yang menurutnya adalah par excellence. Ada bab yang perlahan dan agak membosankan dan berbelit-belit, tetapi ada juga bab yang mencabar dan mendebar bila dipetiknya tulisan-tulisan Nawal Saadawi yang memperihalkan bagaimana masyarakat Muslim melayani kaum perempuan, juga diakhiri buku ini dengan kemandekan Amerika yang gagah dengan sains sampai ke bulan, tetapi hancur masyarakat mereka di bumi. Sementara orang Islam masih banyak terpuruk jauh, tetapi dalam bab kekeluargaan tidaklah lebih buruk dari masyarakat Barat.

[George Hong]

ahmed is a western trained anthropologist from pakistan who came to study islam more seriously when his father died. he believes islam is a universalist faith. he believes the quran and sunna have a good moral ideal. that makes me wonder how he deals with the contradictions in them. he also believes the history of islam shows that reform is possible. he says that the various schools and interpretations prove that point. that is putting a hopeful spin on things. ahmed is honest enough to say islam needs to modernize and not live in the past. that apologetics and polemics are pointless. but he also believes in the concept of european colonialism when islam itself was a colonizing power. treat it as one person's honest attempt to justify a flawed religion to himself.

[!Tæmbuŝu]

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