نزاعات البقاء: الإسلام، أمريكا، وعلم النفس التطوّري

by A.S. Amin, عزيز أمين, ماهر رزوق (مترجم)

في نزاعات البقاء: الإسلام، أمريكا، وعلم النفس التطوّري، يفحص المؤلف جوانب متعددة من الإسلام وثقافته بواسطة منظور دارويني. إن سماح الإسلام بتعدّد الزوجات، والأسباب الأساسية وراء تبعيّة النساء في العديد من المجتمعات الإسلامية، وبذور عدم الاستقرار السياسي والإرهاب في العالم الإسلامي، ليست سوى بعض القضايا المهمة التي يتناولها هذا الكتاب

يقدّم المؤلف أيضًا نظرة ثاقبة عن العديد من جوانب المجتمع الأمريكي وتاريخه. من خلال النظريات القائمة على أساس بيولوجي، يستكشف الأسباب وراء التغيرات الهائلة في الأعراف الجنسية التي حدثت في الولايات المتحدة خلال القرن الماضي، وصعود الحركة النسوية، والاختلافات بين الليبراليين والمحافظين. يحلّل هذا الكتاب أيضًا محتوى ثقافة البوب الأمريكية وتأثيرها العميق على بقية العالم

على الرغم من أن هذا الكتاب يدور في النهاية حول الطبيعة البشرية ككل، إلا أنه ذو صلة خاصة بالعالم العربي / الإسلامي. تتيح هذه الترجمة الممتازة للقراء العرب فرصة الاستفادة من هذا العمل الإبداعي والمثير للتفكير

Genres: Psychology, Islam, Nonfiction, Religion, Evolution, Politics, Science

232 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2015

Reviews

[Yassir Morsi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could be long. I don’t know what’s going to happen while I write.

First, I owe you a quick summary. The book is an attempt to use EP, which is a paradigm to explain mental and psychological traits and human behaviour shaped by gradual adaptations as a product of natural selection. The author puts it this way:

"Synthesizing evolutionary biology and cognitive psychology, evolutionary psychology attempts to explain human behavior under the premise that the underlying function of the human brain is the maximization of its owner’s fitness,"

And fitness being the “genetic legacy in future generations.” Carrying this premise forward, the author goes on to explain and address certain shariah compliant practices that we can explain as mostly being in sync with EP.

I was excited to be invited to read this book, it brought together two major reading interests, one new (psych), one old (Islam). But on reflecting after I finished the book, I think I am perhaps the wrong person to write a review – or maybe I’m not. As a trained political/cultural theorist, I set the bar quite high for any works that tries to explain culture and social behaviour, especially when its transplanted from one culture to another, especially when scientism overstretches its reach.

I am also a keen (maybe worried) reader of the current cultural wars and the unnecessary tussle between (for lack of a better binary) the biological determinists and the cultural determinists, especially when it comes to debates around race and gender (sometimes this binary is translated on social media as the right v the left, buts it cuts deeper)

So maybe much of what I want to say does not relate to the book or the author's writings. My review could be about the bigger picture and the political implication, so I ought to admit that. But mostly my review centres around the limitation of Evolutionary psychology (EP) as a method to explain complex cultural relationships.

In this book, it fails. Now whether the author has done the best job they could to advance the best of EP, I don't know. I'm a new reader. But in this manifestation it does not even come close to addressing major questions I have, and it erroneously relies like much of EP on a biopsych comparative model that tries to correlate non-human behaviour to human behaviour; like if a peacock spends half a billion years (or whatever) developing a way to become attractive, then the conclusion is being selected by a mate is its survival strategy, therefore there is something to say about human contemporary gender relationships too. Are men and women not peacocking when dating?

No, they’re not. Put your Jordan Petersons away please

The moment we invented language and geniuses started painting in detail images of “God” (an image of a white man with a beard, obviously) on the roof of the Sistine chapel, the moment we delved inwards to reflect on soul, psyche, and have internal philosophical dialogues to temper our own behaviour, are the moments everything about us ceases to become comparable to a primate, a peacock, a lobster. Perhaps we share a compulsion, a sex drive, a death drive, a reptilian brain buried within our brain, perhaps we have "modules" shaped by natural selection. But none of this is enough to explain our behaviour today in isolation and without the heavy not always but very often invisible hand of culture. There are numerous examples of us being able to resist and work against our biological impulses. In fact, we might argue we built civilisations on being able to resist

The other premise this book puts forwards is that, “Attempts to maximize fitness inevitably cause conflicts of interest to arise.” These conflicts occur between civilisations but mostly (in the book’s main argumentation) between sexes/gender. I can’t separate sex/gender because the book spends no time on making a distinction on what constitutes a socially constructed understanding of sex. The closest it comes is to reduce culture to “reproductive climates” – which is basically a result of a fight between men and women on whether we should create a society that privileges short time sexual relationships (that favour men) or long term relationships such as marriage (that favour women). It has everything to do with child bearing capacity and one's biologically unequal responsibilities to raising offsprings.

There is a peculiar unintended return to Freud here, where all feature of culture can be reduced to competing libidos.

In the end, Islam being conservative chooses women’s biological determined needs and for this reason it is far from being misogynist. Islam and the cultures it creates are somewhat feminist. One example being polygamy as an advantage for women because they have greater access to the best (most fit) man. Four women can all share the best genetically maxed-out brother. This frustrated me because in Islam we clearly also have “spiritual fitness” (I just made that phrase up) which is not identified by beauty, youth or wealth. I don’t know how to make sense through EP of the Prophet’s (SAW) marriage to an older woman (RA). We also had sex slaves, which the author touches on but doesn’t really pursue. Also at what point do DNA testing and contraceptions now just undermine everything? Men can now sleep around as much as they want and ensure parental confidence if they need too. There is no need for marriage, which is to say the shariah is time sensitive and suitable only for a different time.


Although, the book is about civilisational fitness it’s all about gender relations. I would have really liked to have read more on what EP would have said about other issues like martyrdom, Jihad, charity, worship, taming of the heart, etc, maybe in an advanced edition, since the author probably needed to spend more pages expanding on their arguments (it was a short book). They really do need to read some cultural theory texts too, since they rely on Hip hop and Rap music to interpret culture. I'm not denying thats a window but only using 50 cent and 2pac is not enough.

Finally, I would have liked much more work on the underlining premise of EP and its materialist challenge to Islam. Surely EP would dismiss the story of Adam and Hawa, it would dismiss angels, and jinns, it would dismiss the preservation of souls. or at very least, it would need to integrate them into a survival for fitness. Also, how are we to be judged on the day of Judgement if we obey our biological instinct when its contrary to our spiritual growth, such as gorging on food or killing alpha rivals

I gave this book three stars because I respect the author for taking on this topic. I want more works like this, we need more works like this, and I love that a book like this exists. And, I hope he writes more, but at the moment, it needs more

[Mahbuba Sinthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been given this e-book by the author in exchange for an honest review.

I don't read non fiction books much. So, it's not my cup of tea to review one. But I shall try my best.

The theme of this book is very new to me. But I didn't have much problem to understand it, cause the author used really easy language and pointed out everything in order. It was an informative book and also thought provoking. It made me think about Islam and its laws in a new angle. As this book dealt with many things in such a short range, many thoughts crept into my mind which I didn't find an answer to here. But this book made me interested about Evolutionary Psychology and showed me that in spite of being a muslim, how ignorant I am about Islamic laws. So, this book won't be my last in this genre.

Thanks to Zarif Hassan for recommending this book!

[Maher Razouk · Rating 5 out of 5]

تعدد الزوجات من وجهة نظر علمية


يقول المؤلف (A. S. Amin) في كتابه : Conflicts Of Fitness :

إنه افتراض طبيعي أن تعدد الزوجات هو امتياز لاحتياجات الرجال الإنجابية التي لها تأثير ضار على النساء. يكشف التحليل الإضافي أن هذا الافتراض هو تبسيط مفرط. لنفترض وجود قرية فيها عشرة رجال وعشر نساء على استعداد للزواج. علاوة على ذلك ، افترض أنه يمكن تصنيف كل شخص بموضوعية من حيث الجاذبية . في مجتمع ذو مؤسسة زواج أحادية ، نتوقع أن يتزوج الرجل المرغوب أكثر من أكثر امرأة مرغوبة. الرجل الثاني الأكثر جاذبية سيتزوج ثاني أكثر امرأة مرغوبة وما إلى ذلك ، وبلغت ذروتها في أقل رجل مرغوب فيه يتزوج أقل امرأة مرغوبة.

لنفترض الآن أنه تم إدخال الشكل الإسلامي للتعدد في هذه القرية. افترض أن الرجل الأكثر جاذبية هو الرجل الأكثر رجولة في القرية. إنه أنيق للغاية ، وسيم للغاية ، وغني بشكل لا يصدق. الرجل رقم 2 ، وهو رجل مرغوب فيه بحد ذاته ، يتضاءل مقارنةً بالرجل رقم 1. مرة أخرى ، نتوقع أن تتزوج المرأة رقم 1 من الرجل رقم 1. المرأة رقم 2 ، مع ذلك ، لديها الآن خياران. يمكنها أن تختار احتكار الرجل رقم 2 أو مشاركة الرجل رقم 1. دعونا نفترض أنها ، بعد دراسة متأنية ، ترى أن مشاركة الرجل رقم 1 في مصلحتها ، وأن المرأة رقم 3 ورقم 4 توصلن إلى نفس الاستنتاج. سيكون افتراضنا الأخير هو أن بقية الزيجات تتم بطريقة أحادية الزوج. فمن المستفيد بمجرد إدخال تعدد الزوجات في القرية؟ بالنظر إلى الرجال ، نرى أن الرجل رقم 1 يستفيد بشكل واضح من تعدد الزوجات.

مع الزواج الأحادي ، سمح له بزوجة واحدة فقط. الآن لديه أربعة ، نظرياً تضاعفت أربع مرات لياقته الإنجابية. لسوء الحظ ، لا يمكن قول الشيء نفسه لزملائه الذكور. الرجل رقم 2 ، الذي تزوج من امرأة رقم 2 سابقًا ، عليه الآن القبول بالمرأة رقم 5. يحدث الشيء نفسه للرجل رقم 3 إلى رقم 7. أما الرجل رقم 8 حتى رقم 10 فلا يترك لهن زوجات على الإطلاق. أما بالنسبة للنساء ، فقد تضررت المرأة رقم 1 بسبب تعدد الزوجات. اعتادت أن تحتكر الرجل رقم 1 ، لكنها الآن مجبرة على مشاركته مع ثلاث نساء أخريات. على افتراض أن النساء من 2 إلى 4 هم أناس عقلانيون و أذكياء ، فقد استفادوا من تعدد الزوجات. أتيحت لهم الفرصة للزواج من الرجل رقم 2 لكنهم اختاروا مشاركة الرجل رقم 1. لذلك يفترض المرء أن هذا الاختيار لمصلحتهم. أما المرأة من 5 إلى 10 ، فقد استفادت جميعها بشكل واضح ، حيث تمكنت كل منها من الزواج من رجل أكثر جاذبية. لتلخيص آثار تعدد الزوجات في قريتنا الخيالية ، استفاد رجل واحد فقط ، في حين تضرر تسعة رجال. ثلاثة من الرجال ليس لديهم حتى رفيقة واحدة !
على العكس من ذلك ، تضررت امرأة واحدة فقط من تعدد الزوجات ، في حين استفادت تسع نساء. على الرغم من أن المرء يمكن أن يشعر بالسوء بالنسبة للمرأة رقم 1 ، فمن المهم أن نلاحظ أن موقفها قد انخفض فقط إلى المستوى الذي اعتبرته النساء رقم 2 إلى رقم 4 أفضل خيار. في نهاية المطاف ، لا تزال في وضع جيد مثل أي امرأة في القرية. بالتأكيد المجتمع الفعلي مختلف تمامًا عن قريتنا الخيالية و التمرين السابق كان مليئًا بافتراضات غير واقعية. ومع ذلك ، يمكن استنتاج بعض التعميمات الواسعة من هذه القرية الافتراضية. أول هذه العوامل هو أنه من المتوقع أن يؤذي تعدد الزوجات ، الرجال أكثر مما يساعدهم . الرجال الأقل جاذبية من الرجال القادرين على اجتذاب أكثر من زوجة واحدة سيضطرون إلى قبول النساء الأقل جاذبية ، أو الانتظار لفترة أطول حتى تتاح نساء الجدد ، أو لا تتاح لهن فرصة الزواج على الإطلاق. على العكس من ذلك ، يمكن توقع أن تعدد الزوجات يساعد النساء أكثر مما يضرهم . من المتوقع أن يكون توسيع اختيار المرأة للزملاء المحتملين لصالحها. إذا كان من مصلحتها أن تتزوج شخصًا واحدًا ، فيمكنها القيام بذلك. إذا كان من الأفضل خدمة اهتماماتها بمشاركة رجل ، فيمكنها القيام بذلك. لا يوفر تعدد الزوجات فقط للإناث الأقل جاذبية خيار الزواج من الرجال الذين لن يتمكنوا من الوصول إليهم في مجتمع أحادي الزواج ، وتستفيد النساء المتبقيات أيضا حيث أنهن يتمتعن الآن بإمكانية الوصول إلى المزيد من الرجال المرغوبين الذين يمكن أن تأخذهم النساء الآن في زيجات متعددة الزوجات. وعلى الرغم من ذلك صحيح أن إضافة زوجة جديدة يضر الزوجة السابقة ، يبقى من المرجح أن الزوجة السابقة ستظل في وضع جيد . يجب أن يكون من الواضح الآن أن الافتراض الواسع الانتشار بأن تعدد الزوجات يفيد الرجال ويؤذي النساء لا ينطبق إلا على أكثر الأعضاء المرغوبين من كل جنس. لتحليل مؤسسة الزواج بشكل صحيح ، لا يكفي فقط النظر في الاحتياجات الإنجابية للرجال مقابل النساء ، ويحدث تمييز مهم بنفس الدرجة بين الجنسين. ما هو جيد لأكثر الرجال المرغوب فيهم يكون ضارا للرج��ل الأقل جاذبية ، وينطبق الشيء نفسه على النساء. تقول الحكمة التقليدية أن الإسلام يقصر الرجل على أربع زوجات من أجل حماية المرأة من الإهمال. ربما هذا هو الحال. ومع ذلك ، يبدو أن الأشخاص الذين يستفيدون أكثر من تقليل تعدد الزوجات هم من الرجال الأقل جاذبية. يزيد تعدد الزوجات غير المقيد من احتمالية موقف يصبح فيه من المستحيل حتى بالنسبة لرجل عادي أن يجد زوجة. يمكن أن يكون وجود العديد من الرجال غير القادرين على الزواج ، قوة مزعزعة للاستقرار في المجتمع ، وقد يكون من المهم أن تعمل مؤسسة الزواج لضمان عدم حدوث هذا النوع من المواقف.

#Maher_Razouk
#ماهررزوق

[Emalia Tack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conflicts of Fitness is a short book but very dense with knowledge. The amount of research and time the author has put in to writing is evident from the first few pages. Everything is explained in great detail and the footnotes in this book are very helpful. Is it difficult to not make generalizations when analyzing people/culture and there are many in this book but the author did an incredible job with laying out his assumptions before going on to talk about his conclusions so you know exactly what he is referring to.

The author uses the discipline of evolutionary psychology to dissect modern culture: particularly Middle Eastern and American cultures.
The first chapter talks about different types of relationships other than monogamy. The second chapter talk about how these cultures have changed over time and the driving forces of that change based on how reproduction plays out between men and women. The third chapter seemed interesting but since I only have a basic knowledge of Islam I could not follow. If you have a better background in the religious rules and government you might get more out of it. And the last chapter further explores societal movements like feminism, ultra conservatism and women's rights.

Being that the world and America in particular is a melting pot of cultures and people, this book is a great tool to help you understand the actions, dress and politics of people around you from different cultures. And maybe more importantly your own culture. A must read for anyone! But definitely a must read for any woman who wants to be self aware about the messages she is sending to both men and women by the way she talks, dresses, by her career, etc.

[Nafees Omar · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s an intriguing book for those looking to tie (or maybe untie?) Islam with evolutionary psychology. The depiction and broad reasoning behind both the conflicting topics and the circumstances leading to their development will provoke some interesting thoughts in the readers’ brains for sure.

[Zarif Hassan · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, thanks to the writer of this book for recommending this amazing read. I like its concise but firm approach, unbiased writing, no elaborated boring explanation on favour of the topic to fill out more pages. However, the name of the book could have been better. Yes, it was strictly context-based name but yet my feeling is, it is much more research journal-esque name and attracts less of the readers.

This book covers how liberal and conservative society shapes on throughout the history from the perspective of evolutionary psychology.

Here is my two cents about the topic. I agree thoroughly that each society has its own advantages and drawbacks. On my perspective, the main challenge of conservative society is progress of woman. And the main challenge of liberal society is to create a stable family for the betterment of child. I understand the conflict if one's society permits both.Nevertheless, the society should give its citizens their freedom of choice. Informations should be open and explained to everybody so that one can decide what he/she wants and take his/her decision wisely.

If ones top priority is healthy longterm relationship, better family environment then conservative society is good for him/her.
If ones top priority is career progression, independence, short term recreation then liberal society is good for him/her.
However, one can blend these two and still brings out the best if he/she is wise enough to choose his/her own principles and partner.

In conclusion, I am still confused which one I am favouring for at this moment. One thing is for sure, mankind is progressive and they will progress till the end of its existence.

[S.M.Y Kayseri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit that the first time I read the book’s title, I was taken aback from the pairing between Islam and evolutionary psychology/biology. After a sobering dose of al-Attas, it is almost inconceivable how the Islamic worldview can ever coincide with the Western conception of the world. Both of them stand between an irreparable ontological rift, an impasse between the “becoming” of the West and the “being” of Islam. But, further reading into the book revealed that what the author meant by evolutionary psychology/biology is not of the Darwinian kind, but of anthropological studies done by multiple eminent scholars and studies.

Which brings us to the second question: does the tenets of Islam requires any standing/proof at all? This has been a topic of discussion for Islamic scholars (not to the point that it shaken a religion’s core, like in Christianity where all the philosophers and metaphysicians eventually embroiled in chronic perplexity) for hundreds of years. To tell the truth, it was never a grave problem for the Muslims because all of the scholars faith and the Revelation take absolute precedence over all others proof, which by nature continent. This is the irma’ or consensus of the Islamic scholars. But they have a differing opinion on the extent of how rational and intelligence (including their offsprings; proofs brought by deductive and inductive reasonings) can be used in proving the tenets. The Ashariites are firm in their position that no amount of reasoning can justify the tenets, while the more flexible Maturidites believed that a certain degree of intelligence can indeed be used to prove the tenets, at a baseline level. Both of the schools are in consensus that it is not enough for the Muslims to blindly follow the tenets, they must have a certain level of proofs and reasoning behind their following and are obliged to undergo compulsory learning in Islamic jurisprudence and theological craft in order to be truly called as believers. It is at this junction of compromise we state our position, that any proofs offered through rigorous and honest study from the contemplation of Nature can be accepted, without forgetting the original contigent nature of the human’s power of observation and fallibility.

The author focused the chapters to several burning issues in Islamic tenets such as polygamy and slavery. I am not acquainted with the author at a deeper level that I can actually know the level of his understanding and adherence to the Islamic tenets, but it is commonplace to have the Muslims of today stand in a black-and-white thinking of non-practising Muslims (including those who cherry picks part of the teaching they wanted) and extreme Muslims. I should apologise that I was half thinking that the author might position himself in a more comfortable position of only explaining the tenets in an apologetic and compromising way, not wishing to betray the pervading current Western ideals. But he actually accepted the tenets in their pure forms without one of his hands at the backs. And his honesty and I believe, faith in the tenets led him to a proper analysis based on vast anthropological studies without the need of being ashamed or elusive with some parts of the tenet.

The idea of “be one with the Nature” or being in harmony with Nature is not an alien concept in religions. It was the secular post-Industrial Revolution that preached of disenchantment of Nature, which is forbidden in all kinds of religion. Muslims described Islam as their “deen”, and while the Europeans totally missed the entire point by simply translating it to the more compartmentalised “religion” based on the Latin religio, what “deen” means is actually beyond that. It echoes of a holistic way of living the life, a conscious realisation that man lives in a broader web of meaning, a unity of thought and action. One of many derivatives from the word “deen” is the word “madinah”, which loosely translated as a cosmopolitan. Thus, the Muslim experienced himself as both a microcosmos and a part of macrocosmos. He is a microcosmos, where he derived his very existence from and he is also a macrocosmos where his existence a part of it, and thus he can derive meaning from it and searched for the hidden message to learn and benefit from. It is from this line of reasoning perhaps that the author derived his reasoning so much from anthropological studies, which studies man as a part of Nature, rather than standing opposite to it. Islam acknowledge that man is part of Nature (fitrah), it elevates the role of Nature as a teacher and an open book Man can learn from.

[عُلا · Rating 4 out of 5]

#ملخص:

ينطلق الكتاب من مفهومين أساسيين تُبنى عليهما جميع الحجج والتفسيرات الواردة في الكتاب وهما:
١. أفضل نظام يحقق فيه الذكر أعلى كفاءة بيولوجية هو النظام الذي لا يلزمه بأي أعباء تجاه نسله ويوفر له العدد الأقصى من العلاقات.

٢. أفضل نظام تحقق فيه الأنثى أعلى كفاءة بيولوجية هو النظام الذي تحظى فيه بعلاقة أحادية طويلة الأمد أو لتكن مدى الحياة مع الذكر ذي الصفات البيولوجية الأفضل.

في الفصل الأول يتحدث الكتاب عن تعدد الزوجات بشروطه في الإسلام ويقدم له بعض المبررات البيولوجية ويتطرق لآثاره الإقتصادية والإجتماعية.

في الفصل الثاني يتحدث عن المُناخات التكاثرية المختلفة التي يتميز بها كل مجتمع بشري عن سواه وطرق نشئتها وتغيُرها وتفاعل الأفراد داخلها واكتسابهم لمفاهيمها ومساهمتهم في تغييرها.
كما يطرح في هذا الفصل عدداً من المفاهيم البيوسِسيولوجية ک موثوقية الأبوة والعقليات التكاثرية قصيرة المدى وطويلة المدى.

في الفصل الثالث يتحدث عن النساء والإسلام وهذا الفصل مليئ بالمفردات الإسلامية ويحاول في ضوء المفاهيم التي بيّنها سابقاً أن يقدم تفسيرات و تحليلات لأوضاع النساء في التشريعات الإسلامية وفي واقع المجتمع كما يحاول الإجابة على بعض الأسئلة المتعلقة بتأثير المناخ التكاثري على الفتوى.

في الفصل الرابع والأخير يقدم الكاتب تحليلاً بيولوجياً لعدد من الحركات والتيارات والظواهر السياسية (كالحركة النسوية وحركة طالبان) ويناقش آلية نشوءها وتفاعلها والقاعدة السايكوبيولوجية المُشَكِّلة لدوافع صراعاتها.

خلال الفصول الثلاث الأخيرة يعرض عدداً من مقاطع أغاني الهيب هوب الأمريكية ليشرح عبرها النظرة لبعض المفاهيم ذات الصلة في المجتمع الأمريكي.

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#تعليق:

عرض الكتاب كان جيداً للغاية ويتناول الموضوع بالقدر الكافي من الإطناب وبلا تشعب في زوايا وأفكار هامشية رغم قابلية الموضوعات التي يطرقها للتشعب.

لابد من الإشادة بطرح الأفكار جيد التسلسل والقدر المعتبر من الحياد والموضوعية الذي حوى، وكذاك بكون الكتاب يقدم تحليلاتِه كتفسيرٍ مُحْتمَل لا كتبريرٍ مُلزِم.


كذلك تجدر الإشارة لأن هذا الكتاب -وفق ما أعرف- جديد من نوعه في المحيط العربي، لذا فهو يُمَلِّك القارئ منظوراً مغايراً للأمور.


#جوانب قصور:
-عادة ما يخلق الكاتب نتائج مستنداً على عدد محدود من المعطيات ويهمل عدداً أكبر من العوامل التي قد تؤثر على سلامة فرضياته. وهذه الاعتلال يكاد يتبدى في كل حجة "argument" قدمها الكاتب.

-يقدم الكاتب ما قد يفند إدعاءته في الهوامش الموجودة في نهاية الكتاب وإن اختار القارئ عدم الرجوع لها فقد يقصُر فهمه عن إدراك بعدٍ فاعل في الحجة اختار الكاتب المرواغة في إظهاره.


ختاماً قراءة هذا الكتاب كانت تجربة مفيدة وشيقة.

[Allam Bakheet · Rating 5 out of 5]

الكتاب تحليلي لدرجة بعيدة، و يقدم على ضوء أقوى نظرية تُقدم نفسها الآن في الوسط العلمي ألا و هي النظرية التطورية في جانبها المعروف بعلم النفس التطوري، نظرة ثاقبة لبحث المسألة التي أطلق عليها المؤلف حسب ترجمتي المتواضعة "صِراع التواؤم" في طرح مقارباتي بين المجتمعين الإسلامي و الغربي، الكتاب مقسم لأربعة فصول، تناول فيهم ظاهرة تعدد الزوجات و ما أسماه "المناخ التزاوجي" و النساء و الاسلام.. و أخيراً العقليات المتنازعة؛ حيث خصصه للجانب السياسي في الموضوع و ما تمثله من أيديولوجيات كالنسوية و التيارات المحافظة و الليبراية، الكاتب بذل جهداً مضنياً في البحث لما ستجدونه من معلومات دقيقة و دسمة على طول الرحلة مع هذا الكتاب الشيّق، و الذي سيبدو طرحه بدهياً؛ إذ أ��ه عَرض للأنماط السلوكية و النفسية التي يتخذها البشر بما يخص البحث عن الشريك، و التي ربما لا نكون على وعي بها، فالكتاب سيدهشك في كثيرٍ من فقراته و يجعلك تفقر فاهك مبتسماً لما يجسده من ملامسة لواقعنا المُعاش، في نظري لابد من ترجمته للعربية في صورة مستعجلة، فما سيفتحه من نقاشات و مدوالات ستسلط الضوء على كثير من الأعطاب التي تعتري المجتمعات الإسلامية و الغربية على حدٍ سواء.. سيؤدي لفهمٍ أعمق و حلول أنجع لها.
أرشحه بشدة للقراءة و خالص الامتنان و الشكر لشخص المؤلف الأستاذ أمين لتكبده عناء مراسلتي شخصياً عبر المنصة و من ثم ارسال الكتاب لي عبر الإيميل، الكتاب متوفر منه نسخة إلكترونية.

[سالم عبدالله · Rating 5 out of 5]

كتاب قيم يحمل أفكار جديدة وفريدة
تمنيت لو كان محتواه اكثر
الترجمة متمبزة

[Hussein Ebeid · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I have ever read on this Topic ‘Polygamy’

If you want to open your mind towards Polygamy, so this is the one ☝️

Polygamy cultures and the philosophy behind them.

The Historical conflict of the East and west... even it is a stereotype in some cultures that Muslims can easily get married to more than one lady..while it is not easy as you think it has a lot of obstacles and moral enclosure that has to be obliged….
No conflict either WE ARE ALL HUMANS who share the same instincts

Statistically and science-based…… Polygamy!!!!!!! Why, How and When?

Wondering if this critical observation of how genes, instinct, size, clothes, colours and other factors affect our unconscious decision-making process in Choosing our partner.

Even economically, this book discussed all possible factors that are affected by polygamy !!!


This book puts Islam into consideration through critical writing technique that takes the reader into a new parallel fundamental of thinking… since Islam is reputable by the Polygamy acceptance

On the other hand, the integration of evolutionary psychology in our daily commitments reveals that we cannot ignore the animal instinct in humans even in showing the Man’s and woman’s seduction manifestation to attract the other party.

Who don't believe in polygamy don't ignore it, read the book and understand how we all think

This Book approximates two different mindsets and profoundly accepts each other’s values upon culture, tradition and philosophy.......

I was reflecting on what is in The book within my everyday decisions, and I understood how my mind works and others

Reminds me of the book “Brain is it male or female? “ by Prof. Amr Sherif

Thanks for Amin’s effort in writing this book and his critical research.
Appreciated

[Davood Mohammadi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Karl Marx said that history means the struggle of different classes of society. Thanks to evolutionary psychology which provides new scientific reasons for these struggles. According to Marx, the most important reason for the struggle of classes was economic but today we know that different classes of human groups are in conflict with each other over various issues such as cultural, social and sexual issues. In many cases, even disputes over economic issues are just because of competition over sexual ones like sexual access, freedom and the desire to implement our sexual values ​​in the society. The causes of these struggles, whatever they may be, ultimately go back to the same old human struggle namely the struggle for survival and successful reproduction that forms the nucleus of our evolutionary mind.
In almost all societies, there are two major political parties under different headings, called the Liberal and the Conservative Party. The two parties can be distinguished on the basis of their values ​​and views on various issues, including sexual behavior. On one side of the spectrum, liberal parties emphasize the increasing freedom of individuals in their sexual choices. For conservatives, on the other hand, the emphasis on moral conservatism in all areas, including sexuality, is a sacred value. The result of these conflicts is not only the conflict between these two great parties, and not only within the communities, but also between the communities.
Islam, as one of the most conservative religions, and in contrast to the West, including the United States as a symbol of liberalism, have had many contradictions over the last decades and centuries with west specially US. This book analyzes and gets into the heart of these conflicts in an evolutionary point of view. Iran is one of the countries that has a long history in the struggle against the West and Western culture and politics, especially the United States in recent decades, and can be considered as an excellent example of the confrontation between the Islamic world and the United States. The full title of Iran, the Islamic Republic of Iran, is to emphasize the role of Islam and Islamic beliefs in shaping the country's political system from the very beginning. In present-day Iran and in recent decades, there is a lot of conflict between conservative groups that think very Islamic, traditional and right-wing, and another group called the reformists who are more inclined to Western values and order. When I saw the title of this book and started reading parts of it, I felt that the author has been present in Islamic countries for many years and is aware of the truths hidden in the evolutionary minds of different groups in these societies.
These conflicts between the two political parties are not limited to the inside of Islamic countries and have spread beyond the borders of these countries, so that the members of the conservative party always accuse the members of the reform party of Westernism, including Americanism.
This book is very useful in that it addresses a very sensitive issue in our current political world. Trustees, scholars, and politicians in Islamic and Western countries, and especially in the United States, can read books like this to find out why they feel the other side does not understand them and why self-deceptively think they are right while another side is not. Generally, why what we call right can show itself so differently in the minds of different people!
This lack of understanding each other and conflict has led to many wars in the last decades and centuries that have involved the United States. The battle with the Taliban in Afghanistan, ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and many other recent wars have resulted from the feeling of Muslims upon losing their respect, holiness, values and in the evolutionary language fitness.
I hope that this book will be a prelude to the writing of future books by evolutionary psychologists in this very sensitive field, namely the conflicts between Islam and the Western world. I also hope that those who read this book will introduce it to the translators of evolutionary books in Islamic countries, especially languages ​​such as Arabic, Persian and Turkish, because translating it in these countries will increase everyone's insight and understanding of our constant human conflicts.

[Arman Firman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is on Islam, women and reproductivity. I didn't understand anything by the name, and I think the name should've been modified.

Anyways, as per my knowledge, this is the only book which apples evolutionary psychology to Islamic jurisprudence. Evolutionary psychology is a huge field, and there should be epistemic discussions by leading Muslim psychologists whether or not applying this to any part of Islam can be beneficial. The author also brings up the question in the conclusion. And I do understand that giving arguments to substantiate the importance of this kind of an application would not be possible in the case of this short work. But as I said, Muslim psychologists should work on this and if they come to the conclusion that using evolutionary psychology in fiqh is going be beneficial, then huge volumes should be written on it. And if they come to the conclusion that no, it is not going to be helpful, then it should simply be ignored until further scientific developments. This can be a big issue.

About the book's content. The book contains some good p analyses. Since this is probably the first book to apply evolutionary psychology to problems related to Islam and women, it has some unique insights.

The book has a massive problem, from my point of view. On fiqhi matters, the author favors the views of Khaled Abou el-Fadl. Now, Yasir Qadhi is a scholar who is seen by many as someone liberal, yet he writes in paper about el-Fadl that he has "very little resonance with mainstream Muslims, and is more read by non-Muslims than fellow Muslims". I find it serious problematic that a book should be *based* on such a liberalists works. The other scholars the author favors are also liberal minded (Qaradawi, Kamali). On the other side, the author mentions a single Gujarati Alim, and he quotes few things from the alim, which sounds stupid and I don't know the intentions of the author but this book makes Islamic traditionalism look inane, far-outdated, impossible to implement and totally detached from the world. I am not saying that puritanism like that (like the Gujarati alim) does not exist throughout the world; it does and unfortunately it even destroys lives. This is very sad. But Islamic traditionalism has much more to offer than what the book portrays. I don't know how much the author has studied, but from the bibliography one has to wonder that the author didn't study usul Al fiqh and fiqh enough. Another case maybe that he did, but he couldn't write them down since he wanted to keep the book short. But the thing is, everything cannot be shortened, everything cannot be simplified. Sometimes you have to go with hard stuff, with breadth, or you cannot go at all. And since the subtitle of the book mentions "America", may be author wanted to convince American people. I don't like the practice of water downing in any way, but even if someone does that, he has to at least portray traditional Islamic jurisprudence in the broadest sense and then maybe, use whatever reasoning one has to offer to reject it; but demeaning it via a single and less known Alim is not good practice for an academic author.

Finally, since the book talks about sexuality, I'll say that Muslims should read this book only if they are married or at least, nearly married. I'm giving this advice keeping in mind the people who follow me. And again, you can appreciate the analyses of the book, but understand that Islamic jurisprudence is much more broader than what the book portrays of it.

[Obada Kattih · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolutely incredible book. The author uses evolutionary psychology to explore human reproduction and how it manifests itself in our societies. It is a relatively short read and extremely well written. It's main goal is to juxtapose western culture with Islamic/middle eastern culture (with regards to reproductive/sexual culture specifically) and understand why each culture is the way it is.

The book is split into four main chapters. In the first two, the author discusses the psychology that underlies human reproduction and the different strategies that are employed by both genders in order to set the framework that is necessary to understand the implications on a societal scale discussed in the latter two chapters. The third chapter is dedicated exclusively to using that framework to understand the Islamic/middle eastern culture. The final chapter explores the manifestations of conflicting reproductive cultures across countries, generations, as well as politically.

The book may seem extremely niche as it focuses on the Islamic world specifically, but don't let that discourage you from reading it. While I was expecting a mild degree of Islamic apologetics, the author does an incredible job of remaining as impartial as possible while using evolutionary psychology to explore human reproductive climates and strategies. Islam and middle eastern culture do not play major roles at all in most of the book actually, and are mentioned only occasionally in the first two chapters (so if you have absolutely no interest in that you can skip chapter 3 which as mentioned is the main chapter dedicated to exploring that culture). The author has put into words so well certain phenomena that are taking place around the world, as well as impeccable arguments for the reasons behind these changes and conflicts.

If you're interested at all in the psychology behind human reproduction, ranging from why certain cultures force women to wear extremely conservative clothing to the psychology behind one night stands, then you should absolutely read this book.

[Bayan elzain · Rating 5 out of 5]

الكتاب يفسر كثير من السلوكيات في المجتمع  التي نراها غير سوية او سلوكيات ذات فهم رجعي .. في محاولة تفسير هذه السلوكيات  يرجعها لطبيعة المناخ التزاوجي السائد في المنطقة .. ولعقلية الشخص .. لكن أرى انه ينظر للبشر من ناحية واحدة فقط .. الناحية الجسدية او الحيوانية .. وكأن كل سلوكياتنا ترجع لرغبتنا في إشباع إحتياجاتنا أيا كان نوعها .. غير انه هنا الموضوع عن الرغبة الجنسية والتزاوج بالتحديد ..
والناحية الروحية للبشر ليس لها تأثير حقيقي .. بمعنى حتى في إختيارنا لشريك الحياة إذا كنا نريد صفة القوة أو الصدق أو الإلتزام والوفاء بالعهد او كل من الصفات الأخلاقية الروحية العالية .. نحن نحتاج هذه  الصفات في شريكنا لأنها توفر لنا حياة مستقرة معه .. في تفسير هذه الحياة المستقرة في الكتاب ان استراتيجيتنا هذه  long term reproductive strategy   .. ويرجعها لمفهوم جنسي .. او مفهوم التزاوج والنسل وووو .. يلغي الحاجات  الروحية .. يعني إذا أردت أن  اعمل كإمرأة عاملة مستقلة .. تفسر لان المناخ السائد الحالي مائل لل short term  .. إذا أردت ان أرتدي  ملابس معينة  او make up  بطريقة معينة لأنه شئ جميل يعجبني .. في هذا الكتاب يفسر هذه الأشياء التي تعجبنا بأن أساسها المناخ السائد 🤷‍♀️ ..
يعني بإختصار الإحتياجات الروحية .. أصلها إحتياجات مادية .. ونحن من نغلفها بكلام جميل  كنوع من الرقي والتطور 🤷‍♀️
..
لكن في نفس الوقت يفسر  او يعطينا اسباب  لمشروعية أحكام كثيرة  في الإسلام بطريقة جيدة .. وانه لماذا توجد معارضة بهذا الشكل على احكام الإسلام بينما لم تكن موجودة في الماضي ..

فلا أستطيع ان  احدد هل الكتاب رائع جدا .. أم صادم جدا و مخيب للآمال 😂💔

[Syed Nouman Hasany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book in the sense that the author initially declares one or two 'axioms', and the subsequent discussion basically revolves around applying those 'axioms' to different scenarios. In general, even though I have several contentions, the book was very readable and has ignited my interest to explore evolutionary psychology in the future as well.

[Aziz Abro · Rating 1 out of 5]

One day, I randomly opened my Goodreads account after a gap of a few months to find that I have received a text! This was new for me as I never really used the app for contacting people (never even thought it could be used for such a thing) and so I was sort of surprised at the text. What was more surprising was that it was a text from an author of a book who had personally reached out to me to offer me his book for free because my reading interests matched the themes/topics of the book. I felt overwhelmed at such a treatment, and I wanted to read the book as soon as possible and write an honest positive review for it. This was, after all, the least I could do for the author in return for all of that effort of reaching outright?

Halfway through chapter one, I realized I will never be able to write a positive review for this book: this was partly due to my own biases on the issues discussed, but also due to overly simplistic generalizations that the book made in order to prove its points that made it impossible for me to agree with everything said in the book.

The first chapter in this book is about the concept of polygyny in Islam, more importantly, it tries to defend why polygyny exists in Islam and argues that it is beneficial for the reproductive needs of women and promotes more stable marriages and hence an overall better society. This claim is based on some “evolutionary” assumptions:
1. Every organism’s (in our book, every human’s) ultimate goal in life is to reproduce and have as many children as possible, both in quality and quantity.
2. Keeping the first assumption in mind, women’s reproductive ideals (their sex/relationship goals) are to find a suitable mate and live and reproduce with that mate for the rest of life, while for men, the reproductive ideal is to sleep with as many women as possible.

I’m sure many men (and women) would vehemently disagree with this gross generalization and oversimplification of a very complex species, I would like to point out some faults in this argument from a more scientific perspective. For one, if the ultimate relationship/sex goal of every organism was to reproduce and send its DNA forward, why does homosexuality exists naturally in multiple species? (For a book that centers literally everything around sex and relationships, homosexuality is curiously ignored throughout the text). The book claims that a problem caused by monogamy is cheating: men, according to the author’s assumption, are encoded to want to sleep with as many women as possible, so monogamy would always cause men to cheat. But then why do women cheat in seemingly stable marriages if their reproductive ideal is to find one mate and just settle down? It even makes evolutionary sense for women to also have children with different males and increase the gene pool in their children and increase the chances that at least some would be fit to survive the environment and diseases? But because this whole line of argument would contradict Islam’s polygynic ideal, it was conveniently ignored altogether. (If women’s reproductive ideal was long-term stable marriages, why are 70% of divorces initiated by women?)

The next chapter delves into the concept of ‘reproductive climate’, meaning that the sexual/relationship preferences of men and women from a particular society are largely shaped by the society they live in. (This whole concept would contradict the generalizations made in chapter one that assumed a single set of reproductive ideals for all men and women and then defended Islamic polygyny around those assumptions but Islam was curiously never mentioned in this entire chapter.) Apart from this contradiction with chapter one, this chapter also made some overly simplistic and problematic generalizations to prove its content(again).

"How a woman decides to clothe herself, particularly at social events,
reveals a great deal of information about the reproductive strategy she
is employing. The more conservatively a woman dresses, the more she
informs others about her long-term reproductive strategy. Conversely,
women who decide to wear tight clothing and/or show a lot of skin are
sending the message that they are employing a short-term strategy."
(pg. 26)

It cannot be stressed enough how problematic these lines are! The book reduces a woman’s choice of company, her clothing, and even her demands for education and work as attempts to come into contact with and have sex with a male. Many women would never even consider men while choosing what to wear, but this book downright claims that women, conservative or otherwise, dress with only one goal in mind: men. The rest of the chapter uses these assumptions to describe why the ‘reproductive climates’ in different regions of the world is how it is.

The ethical issues involved with this assumption aren’t the only problem. The book itself claims (and rightly so) that human psychology has evolved for hunter-gatherer times of ten thousand years ago or more. It is hard to imagine for such societies to put so much emphasis on clothing. Observing hunter-gatherer tribes at different parts of the world today, especially those from the Amazon, gives us insight into the fact that those people simply did not care about what one wore. Most of them probably lived nearly naked and yet the highest plausibility is that most of them still had long-term intimate relationships. The author just makes this assumption about women’s clothing (an assumption that is highly common among average Muslim men) and goes on to write the latter half of the book based on this assumption without properly justifying that assumption in the first place!

The next chapter delves into women’s condition in different Muslim countries and how Islam actually idealizes women and their lifestyle. The author talks about different interpretations of the more misogynistic aspects of Islam and mostly argues that these aspects are misogynistic because they are actually interpretations of patriarchal Islamic scholars whose worldview was influenced by their patriarchal time/region. However, the author again fails to conclude how one set of interpretations is more authentic than the other, and hence the attempt to refute these claims of Islam being a misogynistic religion seems weak at best.

The final chapter sheds light on the conflict that exists between the Islamic world and the West, particularly America, and claims that this conflict exists because of the different reproductive ideals of both societies (in essence, the author claims that the West and Islam are at conflict because both want to have sex differently.) This isn’t the only laughable claim in the book: In the first chapter, the author suggests that global inequality would recede when the super-rich men would start marrying multiple women and their wealth will thus be divided.

In this chapter, the author talks about feminism and its history in a pretty accurate manner, just to end it with the claim that feminism happened so that men could sleep with more women. The book even claims terms like human rights, women’s rights, reform, and modernization, etc. to be reproductively loaded terms, meaning these are all just excuses for people to get laid more (pg. 87).

The book is very well researched and the method of argumentation is very good. I read the whole book in just two sittings, it was interesting and held my attention for its full length. This shows that the author can write well and has a knack for presenting his arguments in a very logical manner, but the arguments themselves were based on shaky assumptions and became downright problematic and stereotypical at times. I mean, it doesn’t matter how well the book is written, or how effectively the author has presented his arguments when the book contains lines like:

"…much has been made about the seeming incompatibility between the West and Islam. But even if we are witnessing a “clash of civilizations,” the current conflict can also be characterized as a clash of reproductive mentalities."
(pg. 97)

As a student of International relations/politics, this last line felt particularly offensive to me knowing all the complex reasons that go into any conflict and then seeing it being reduced to just sex. This problem isn’t just with this book however, this overly deterministic outlook is common to all the theories/predictions based solely on evolutionary psychology.

But this overly deterministic nature aside, I actually find evolutionary psychology to be a very logical field that makes a lot of sense to me. The problem here again was the author using it as an excuse to justify his own misogynistic beliefs about feminism, women’s clothing, and his soft spot for Islam, all of these beliefs that are so common in most Muslim men.

But an even greater problem appears to be the premise of the book itself: evolutionary psychology and Islam are two incompatible domains. Efforts have been made to reconcile Islam with evolution and vice versa, but they’re always made on questionable grounds. The author made no attempts at justifying this, which makes his efforts at defending Islam in chapters one and three even weaker.

This book, with its very interesting premise, could have been so much better; but it was simply wasted at justifying outdated stereotypes and religious dogmas.

[Amjed Oudah · Rating 5 out of 5]

يعالج الكتاب التشريعات الإسلامية المثيرة للتساؤلات و ربطها بعلم النفس التطوري كحقل علمي لتفسير الظواهر الاجتماعية والإنسانية ، يتحرى الكاتب الموضوعية وعدم التحيز في طرحه وقد كان موفق الى حد بعيد في ذلك ، ويحاول ان يركز على نقطة جوهرية في طرحه الا وهي ما يسميه ( المناخ التكاثري ) اذ ينقسم الى طويل الأمد – ويقصد به العلاقات المستقرة التي تنتهي بالزواج ويتطلب ذلك فرض الرؤية الذكورية على سلوك واخلاق النساء في المجتمع من حشمة وعفة وما شابه ـ ومناخ اخر هو قصير الأمد ـ وهو عكس الأول اذ يكون مسعى الرجال فيه الى علاقات قصيرة الأمد فيفرض هذا النمط سلوك واخلاق تتسم بالانحلال والعري تتبناها النساء بالمقابل للموائمة، هذا النموذج ( ولاستعين هنا بالدكتور عبد الوهاب المسيري في التعبير) الذي يفرضه الكاتب على المجتمع يحاول في طول الكتاب وعرضه بيان صلاحيته في تفسير الظواهر المختلفة بدءا من تعدد الزيجات في الإسلام وكيف انه مبرر اذا طبقنا نموذجنا على حالة المجتمعات الإسلامية او التي يسعى الإسلام الى تأسيس اخلاقها و انتهاءا بالمجتمع الأميركي المعاصر وكيف ان حركات المساواة والتحرر النسوية قد تكون نابعة من ميل الثقافة الى المناخ قصير الأمد، ويمتد به التوصيف الى داخل الفقه الإسلامي اذ يذكر مسألة الاحاديث المتواترة واحاديث الاحاد وكيف ان بعض الفقهاء المسلمون استخدموا الاحاديث الضعيفة بما يتناسب مع حاجاتهم النفسية البايولوجية من دون قصد على الأكثر ليفرضوا على الفقه تشريعات تستلزم التشدد في الحشمة وعزل النساء، ويتعرض الى مسألة العبودية ويذكر الأمثلة بالطبع على ذلك بطريقة ممتازة .
يستمر الكاتب في تطبيق النموذج ليصل الى مدى ابعد اذ انه يصف الاختلاف السياسي في اغلب البلدان مستوحى من هذا التمايز ، فالجمهوريون والديمقراطيون في الولايات المتحدة ينطبق عليهم الوصف في مشاريعهم الانتخابية و كذالك الاحزاب الليبرالية والدينية في البلدان الاسلامية،
والكثير من التفاصيل التي لاغنى عن قراءتها.
عندما كنت اتصفح الكتاب ورد على ذهني ان هذه الطريقة تشابه تحليل فرويد النفسي في البنية و كذلك بدأت افكر في التغييرات المجتمعية وكيف ان لها عوامل عديدة تتحكم بها ( وهنا احيل القارئ الى مراجعة الاخ ياسر مرسي على الكودريدز فهي وافية في نقد الكتاب من هذا الاتجاه ) ولكن الكاتب لم يشكك في وجود عوامل اخرى الا انه ركز على ما يمليه عليه علم النفس التطوري والتزامه بالبحث، من حيث الاصالة فان هذا الكتاب على حسب علمي هو اول من طرح هذه الطريقة ـ لكنني لست متأكدا ـ ومما يقلل من نقدنا على حصر التغيرات الاجتماعية على عامل واحد مدى المعية البحث وعبقرية مقارناته ، الا انه اعتراض له مبرراته ويجب ان يؤخذ علم النفس التطوري على انه عنصر مشارك في كتلة العناصر المؤثرة في الظاهرة الانسانية المعقدة شديدة التركيب لا ان يكون هو المؤثر الوحيد.

[Khalid Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for the modern Muslims and critics of Muslim world alike. Author does a good job at explaining or rather analyzing issues that concern everyday life of today's society. I found myself in line with 90% of the content of this research and didn't agree with other bits.
The problem with psychology is that it only analyses, and doesn't give the solution. I didn't like that previously and this book just cemented that for me. Let's say we have the analysis of this book and want to use, but if the same group of people who are mentioned in the book, on either end of the spectrum, are going to derive a result, their mindset or in this context, their reproductive fitness would play a significant role. So, in my view what could be wrong, where this book succeeds from an academic point of view, it doesn't propose much for the solution of the issues.
*This book is a result of some extreme research and has expanded my horizons vastly regarding the subject. I would definitely recommend this to my peers.*

[Zein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic read- well written, easy to follow, and presents many interesting ideas that initially made me uncomfortable, but were thought provoking and provided new perspectives.

Evolutionary psychology is a lens used to analyze human behavior under the premise that the function of the human brain is to maximize its own reproductive success. Through this lens, the author dissects concepts of monogamy/polygamy, promiscuity over time, and misogyny both in Islamic societies and in the West.

The author also discusses how conflict arises when a society has different reproductive ideologies (ex. Muslims in the West, conflict in Afghanistan and Iran), which left me viewing these conflicts in a totally different light.

I highly recommend this book!

[Ali Abbas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hadn't read a single thing on the subject of evolutionary psychology prior to this book. But as someone who grew up in the West in a mixed family (my father an immigrant from the Middle East, my mother from rural Canada) - this book really spoke to my lived experiences in both my communities.

I loved Amin's use of hip-hop lyrics as expressions of experienced culture, contrasted against conservative values presented by cultures in the Muslim world. I think there is something special to be said about looking at our cultural development in this lens, and what can be presented as options in education to better integrate conflicting worldviews in our rapidly globalizing world.

[Lukman Aliyu · Rating 5 out of 5]

CONFLICTS OF FITNESS: ISLAM, AMERICA AND EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY
What a book!!!

Let me start with full disclosure, I happen to be one of those that the author describes as coming from a location with a long-term reproductive climate (perhaps extremely), as a result I would say my reproductive mentality is long-term due to a variety of factors.
But for the promise I made to write an honest review after reading this book, I wouldn’t have written this review. This is because this is a topic that is close to my heart. I promised to write an honest review, and this is as honest as I can get. Being a strictly practising muslim means I have my own biases, hence my promise to write an honest review rather than an objective review.
I like that that the author was able to pass across so much information in just about a hundred pages. I like the brevity and clarity of expression. In five chapters, the author is able to put forward his arguments and support them with factual proofs. I may not agree with some of them but I must admit that he has facts to support all the arguments he put forward.
From the first chapter, the author had my attention with his explanations for the prevalence of polygamy throughout recorded history and also its practice by some people, including muslims even in the modern ages. I must confess that I haven’t come across an explanation or a justification of polygamy of this nature before reading this book. I completely agree with all the points he raised in the first chapter titled ‘Polygamy’.
I loved the link between the chapters and the way understanding the reproductive climate can make one understand the status and position of women in islam and why muslim women have different attitudes, behaviours and even opportunities in participation compared to western women. Being a practicing muslim and having Islamic education made this a particular concern to me and I must say I was somewhat satisfied with the author’s approach to this sensitive topic.
Finally, evolutionary psychology is an interesting discipline but to a muslim who believes that the Qur’an is the book of Allah, the evolutionary basis of the discipline makes it incompatible with his faith, as the writer points out. Nevertheless, there seems to be a clash between Islam and the predominant western civilization of the modern day and an attempt must be made to reconcile some of the key areas of disagreement if we are to live a normal life. This happens to be the attempt of the writer. I would recommend reading this book to anyone interested in human behaviour (psychology), islam and the relationship between islam and western civilization. Any one in objective search for knowledge would find this book educative and insightful.

[Ibrahim Abouzied · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a fantastic read! I was invited to read it by the author and I am so glad he reached out. The book is quite niche, it explores the differences in cultural attitudes towards sex and women between Muslim countries and the West, all through the lens of evolutionary psychology.

As an ex-Muslim I had some apprehension going into this, half expecting some poor apologetics. I was pleasantly surprised to see Amin strike a balance between appealing to secular readers while not saying anything particularly blasphemous to the religiously inclined. I had no trouble entertaining his ideas, and I don't think Muslim readers will either.

As with anything, I don't believe that evo-psych can provide a complete explanation of cultural trends we see today. But if it is a factor Amin explores it very well. My favorite part was exploring why it is so difficult for different generations to agree on sexual norms, especially for immigrant families.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in religion and psychology/sociology. Thanks again to the author for writing this work!

[Ali Hassan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very short book that speaks about some very controversial topics, particularly when it comes to the religion - Islam, the issues like polygamy, sexual relationships, and women's rights, above all, raise eyebrows of many Muslims. The writer tried his best to make these issues easy for understanding psychologically and biologically.
However, I would like to say that these issues are related to culture and vary from society to society, and it doesn't matter at all whether the dominant religion of a particular society is Islam or not. Polygamy is legitimate in the Arab countries and they refer it to Islam, but in the Pakistani society, from which I do belong, a second marriage considered to be a shameful act because society doesn't voluntarily accept this act. Why it is so? Because we have been part of Indian culture for centuries, and despite being Muslims, we inherited the same Indian culture, as the writer too has mentioned in the book that Indian society is a monogamous society. Similarly, Islam has given women the right of taking divorce if they don't want to live with their husbands. Yet again this act, without the fact that Islam legitimizes it for women, considered in the Pakistani society a sinful act. So in a nutshell, these issues have nothing to do with Islam or the Islamic teachings. It is the culture of peoples that they inherit and act upon and follow their forefathers, but the Quran says that their forefathers were verily on the wrong side. Various sects within Islam and cultural segregations make these issues somewhat complicated. However, the religion itself is not a complex phenomenon, it is easy for understanding.

[Nus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had me treading through my sanity, trying to make it out whole at some parts. I felt the pain of being a woman in my throat. I appreciate the way that the author delineated the differences and fluctuations in the Muslim world and the West. Although I don't think there is a set formula for long-term reproductive climates vs short-term reproductive climates, I think the author's deductions were insightful.

[Abi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, yet highly thought-provoking. I had never read on the topic of EP before, and found the author quite tactful in presenting complex ideas simply and impartially. It is also evident how much research went into this work, and to my surprise, I ended up reading most of the footnotes. The work is, as in his own words, truly ‘multidisciplinary,’ for anyone interested in EP, Islam and/or American culture. Highly recommended.

[Bilal Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliantly written book which is both engaging and sophisticated in its prose. Mr Amin tackles well-known ideas from an alternative but enlightened perspective.

[Baudi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, I liked how the author compared the two cultures telling about pros and cons of both sides. Interesting approach to describe this topic via evolutionary psychology.

[Ahmad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was gifted this book in exchange for an honest review

My first exposure to the field of Evolutionary Psychology is a pleasant one. A.S. Amin dissects the arena of reproductive mindsets and climates and the innate desires which form them. He presents Islam's stance of polygamy and woman (while largely trying to be objective) and the clash present between the Western mode of thinking from the lens of Evolutionary Psychology. The content presented is really profound and necessities further contemplation

One nitpick is that proper headings would be a great addition rather than the row of astericks. Helps break up the text into readable chunks. The way it's constructed makes it incumbent to read each chapter in one sitting.

Overall, the text is compact but profound and Amin does not present all the remedies here. But with it's plentiful references, the stimulus for further reading is readily available.

Beware feminists. You're in for a rude awakening

[Subhani A. Hussein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being interested in psychology, evolution, and religion; I got curious to what might be behind the relatively mysterious title of the book. My encounter with the book was through the author, to whom I’m thankful for recommending his book.

Being a doctor, reading a book takes valuable time that can otherwise be put into reading something else or practicing a skill/hobby. This book, however, is an informative and insightful blend of EP and cultural religion; for which I don’t regret having read it.

Evolutionary Psychology, unlike physics and chemistry, or medicine, is quite hard to be measured, tested, and falsified or verified. Thus, while there are some references to resources, such as papers and books, most works on evolutionary psychology require a lot of “thought experimenting”, at least before proceeding to a level of statistical experiments. So, while it’s completely valid to praise and/or criticise the author for the immense effort spent on generating results from thought experiments, ultimately, statistical methods should be employed to test some of those “preliminary” results. And it’s better to be done for one variable at a time.

While the nature of the content can be polemical, there are excellent features of this book that can hardly be denied. I’ll briefly mention a few:

1- The language of writing is quite comprehensive and the style is attractive enough to keep one interested to proceed reading. It wouldn’t matter how good the content of a book is, if the form bores one out and they never finish reading it.

2- It employs a good number of terms from psychology, evolution, and sociology (of course Islam as well) to explain certain de novo concepts. Even if not backed by hardcore science, these concepts are intellectually interesting.

3- The whole book provides a new window through which the relatively recent sociocultural (not necessarily religious) conflicts between the Middle East and the West can be reviewed and assessed.

4- The author does his best to make the book mostly descriptive and rarely prescriptive (implicitly), leaving room for the reader to interact with the rather raw ideas presented without having been spiced up.

With the help of Evolutionary psychology as a method to probe sophisticated cultural variables, the books tries to explain relationships between cultures where Islam is the predominant religion with other cultures. This attempt can lead to highly arguable outcomes, as there are far more aspects to a human society and culture than sex drive and survival. Thus, the book can also be seen as an example of limitations of evolutionary psychology; for which I wouldn’t blame the author.

I gave it 5 starts because I want more books like this, probably books addressing many other similar conflicts beside polygamy and misogyny.