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Islam For Dummies
Many non-Muslims have no idea that Muslims worship the same God as Christians and Jews, and that Islam preaches compassion, charity, humility, and the brotherhood of man. And the similarities don’t end there. According to Islamic teaching, Muhammad founded Islam in 610 CE after the angel Gabriel appeared to him at Mecca and told him that God had entered him among the ranks of such great biblical prophets as Abraham, Moses, and Christ.
Whether you live or work alongside Muslims and want to relate to them better, or you simply want to gain a better understanding of the world’s second largest religion, Islam For Dummies can help you make sense of this religion and its appeal. From the Qur’an to Ramadan, this friendly guide introduces you to the origins, practices and beliefs of Islam, including:
Muhammad, the man and the legend The Five Pillars of Wisdom The Five Essentials beliefs of Islam The different branches of Islam and Islamic sects The Qur’an and Islamic law Islam throughout history and its impact around the worldProfessor Malcolm Clark explores the roots of Islam, how it has developed over the centuries, and it’s long and complex relationship with Christianity. He helps puts Islam in perspective as a major cultural and geopolitical force. And he provided helpful insights into, among other things:
Muhammad, the Qur’an and the ethical teachings of Islam Muslim worship, customs, and rituals surrounding birth, marriage, and death Shi’ites, Sunnis, Sufis, Druze, and other important Muslim groups Islam in relation to Judaism and ChristianityIn these troubled times, it is important that we try to understand the belief systems of others, for through understanding comes peace. Islam For Dummies helps you build bridges of understanding between you and your neighbors in the global village.
Islam For Dummies (9781119642978) was previously published as Islam For Dummies (9780764555039). While this version features a new Dummies cover and design, the content is the same as the prior release and should not be considered a new or updated product.
400 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 28, 2003
115 people are currently reading
553 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
January 4, 2015
The dummies who edit this series found a non-Muslim to write this book who turned out to be pretty ignorant on the subject.
If you want an overview book on Islam, read the Complete Idiot's Guide, which is no perfect, but at least is written by a Muslim.
This book is so bad I ripped it up and threw it away because I didn't want anyone else to buy my copy!
If you want an overview book on Islam, read the Complete Idiot's Guide, which is no perfect, but at least is written by a Muslim.
This book is so bad I ripped it up and threw it away because I didn't want anyone else to buy my copy!
November 4, 2012
The write should first fix his own preconceived ideas about Islam before he tries to fix it for his readers. As a Muslim, it was very annoying to read even from page one!
December 15, 2020
Islam for Dummies – an idiots guide!
For any novice to understand Islam, I probably wouldn’t have recommended this particular book to start the journey of learning. Islam although, reflects a combination of narratives and events that took place over a millennium, they are purposefully designed to offer the reader a voyage through ‘Islam’ which means ‘submission to the will of Allah’.
This book was reviewed up to chapter seven. No further steps were taken to review rest of the work due to the inappropriate and seriously offensive material contained with it. However, I hope the short review will illustrate the ineptitude of the author and his work.
The beginnings of this book unfold into historical events on how Islam was born or in some instances ‘reborn’. Much of the story is relatively generic with only few passages referenced to authenticate their validity. The early part of the book focuses on the relationship between Islam with Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. This I found quite strange, although there is a large Muslim population is the sub-continent, this by no means suggests that this region is any more devout than any other part of the Muslim world. Alongside this quite unusual description, Malcolm Clark frequently draws comparisons between Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism, while Islam practices Monotheism and the others worship Idolatry. There is no purpose in drawing comparisons between these beliefs because Islam is diametrically opposed to religious conduct of the other three and there is no space for any cooperation whatsoever between the fundamental beliefs. The book would have been better served to compare aspects of Islam with Judaism and parts of Christianity which it infrequently undertook.
The author balances himself on several contradictions, some claimed as ‘fact’, such as when he suggested that Muhammad “urged:” Muslims to emigrate from Mecca to Medina when in reality it was a Command of Allah that this should happen; a small but highly significant omission. Clark later draws on the publication of the Satanic Verses where he attempts to rationalise its legitimacy, whist this work was spurned by almost every devout Muslim on the globe. To engage the Satanic Verses was a crazy inclusion.
It should be said that Islam for Dummies is simple book to read and offers the reader an opportunity to delve into their conscious mind through the interpretation of Clark’s work. The work regularly strays away by drawing on unrelated concepts to illustrate its point and often not very well. The book is at times confusing because it neither falls into an academic text nor does it collate itself to show a set of adjective narratives defining Islam truthfully. The work is depicted as a set of idioms which regularly and throughout the book deflects the actuality, by taking forward a paralepsis message where it deliberately emphasises a logical fallacy to the point of dismissing the true nature and meaning of the message thus, creating a paradox of obtuse images of Islam.
In chapter four of the book Clark discusses Greek Philosophy and thereby, attempts to introduce many of the passages written in the Holy Quran as a set of metaphors which undermines its stated purpose. Greek Philosophy and Islamic philosophy some may argue have an obscure lineage; this does not mean passages of the Holy Quran can be seen as metaphors for something else. This approach is an attempt by Clark to directly delegitimise the creator and the creation. There was a particular passage in the book where Clark comments that one cannot understand Islam without coming to grips with the Holy Quran. If this was his effort to ‘grip’ the Quran, he woefully failed.
In chapter seven, whilst Clark claims to recognise the perfection of the Holy Quran in the eyes of the Muslims, he also draws upon the work of Thomas Carlyle, a 19th century satirical writer and philosopher, who wrote “you know right away I have come to the wrong place” when he offered his own interpretation of the Holy book as “a confused jumble, crude, incondite; endless iterations, long windedness, entanglement; insupportable stupidity in short”. This is the man that Clark considered as an ardent supporter of Muhammad, yet his blasphemy of the creator’s work confounds even the most hardened of transgressors and hypocrites.
A Guardian reporter, Aya Batrawy who describes one man’s journey into the world of Islamic conflict: "I realised that I was in the wrong place when they began to ask me questions on these ISIS forms like 'when you die, who should we call?’” said a 32-year-old European recruit. He thought he was joining a group to fight President Bashar al-Assad and help Syrians, not the so-called Islamic State. He had realised he too had come to the wrong place as did Carlyle. Not to disappoint the main thrust of this conversation, I too felt a little like this European recruit. I thought I was going to review a respectable, impartial book that helps to develop dialogue while attempting to understand Islam from a non-Muslim perspective. What I found was Islam for Dummies to be an apt name for this irrational gibberish.
Once I realised some anomalies in Clark’s work, I started to search for further indiscretions that may have crept in either wittingly or indeed unwittingly; I became confused, irritable and little dismayed because, here I had a book better described as an ‘idiots guide to Islam’ and I found myself to be that idiot.
The approach taken by Clark reminds me of the Four Lyons, a movie released in 2010 which was a British jihadi satire following a group of homegrown awkwardly clumsy jihadi terrorists from Sheffield attempting to blow up Boots the Chemist because they sold contraceptives and tampons; whilst also aspiring to be suicide bombers. The Four Lyons, although were not portrayed as Islamic intellectuals, but I’m pretty sure they were scholarly students of the work, ‘Islam for Dummies’ by Malcolm Clark.
Hasan Mehdi also satirised the ‘jihadi jive’ by writing about another group of wannabe jihadists Yusuf Sarwar and Mohammed Ahmed who had pleaded guilty to terrorism offences, they had ordered a copy of Islam for Dummies as authenticated work to show their knowledge on the subject. To their dismay they quickly realised their book was no more literate than their own psyches.
Clark continues with his bizarrely constructed evidence for authenticity by describing the Satanic Verses as a testimony to historical events, a book which almost led to Salman Rushdie himself losing his head had the Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ruhollah got his hands on him after issuing his fatwa, and calling for the death of Rushdie. So, when you have Islam for Dummies portraying itself as an ‘article of faith’ this can create belligerency amongst ridiculously stupid young men by using this as an idiots road-map to heaven.
Clark has highlighted a conspiracy within Islam by carefully selecting passages from scriptures and then attempting to readdress them with dishonesty, deception and deceit. His attempt creates duplicity by using the work of Carlyle to discredit the creation of Allah and goes beyond even the absurdity of Salmon Rushdie.
This book was written for the ‘dimwit dummies’ who can freely masquerade as someone ready to blow up a bikini beach-hut or create an ill-informed debate amongst a group of smug style liberals conducting politics, predicated on the belief that Islam is not divided by moral difference or rule divergence but rather through inconsistencies, ignorance and misrepresentation of the message.
For any novice to understand Islam, I probably wouldn’t have recommended this particular book to start the journey of learning. Islam although, reflects a combination of narratives and events that took place over a millennium, they are purposefully designed to offer the reader a voyage through ‘Islam’ which means ‘submission to the will of Allah’.
This book was reviewed up to chapter seven. No further steps were taken to review rest of the work due to the inappropriate and seriously offensive material contained with it. However, I hope the short review will illustrate the ineptitude of the author and his work.
The beginnings of this book unfold into historical events on how Islam was born or in some instances ‘reborn’. Much of the story is relatively generic with only few passages referenced to authenticate their validity. The early part of the book focuses on the relationship between Islam with Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. This I found quite strange, although there is a large Muslim population is the sub-continent, this by no means suggests that this region is any more devout than any other part of the Muslim world. Alongside this quite unusual description, Malcolm Clark frequently draws comparisons between Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism, while Islam practices Monotheism and the others worship Idolatry. There is no purpose in drawing comparisons between these beliefs because Islam is diametrically opposed to religious conduct of the other three and there is no space for any cooperation whatsoever between the fundamental beliefs. The book would have been better served to compare aspects of Islam with Judaism and parts of Christianity which it infrequently undertook.
The author balances himself on several contradictions, some claimed as ‘fact’, such as when he suggested that Muhammad “urged:” Muslims to emigrate from Mecca to Medina when in reality it was a Command of Allah that this should happen; a small but highly significant omission. Clark later draws on the publication of the Satanic Verses where he attempts to rationalise its legitimacy, whist this work was spurned by almost every devout Muslim on the globe. To engage the Satanic Verses was a crazy inclusion.
It should be said that Islam for Dummies is simple book to read and offers the reader an opportunity to delve into their conscious mind through the interpretation of Clark’s work. The work regularly strays away by drawing on unrelated concepts to illustrate its point and often not very well. The book is at times confusing because it neither falls into an academic text nor does it collate itself to show a set of adjective narratives defining Islam truthfully. The work is depicted as a set of idioms which regularly and throughout the book deflects the actuality, by taking forward a paralepsis message where it deliberately emphasises a logical fallacy to the point of dismissing the true nature and meaning of the message thus, creating a paradox of obtuse images of Islam.
In chapter four of the book Clark discusses Greek Philosophy and thereby, attempts to introduce many of the passages written in the Holy Quran as a set of metaphors which undermines its stated purpose. Greek Philosophy and Islamic philosophy some may argue have an obscure lineage; this does not mean passages of the Holy Quran can be seen as metaphors for something else. This approach is an attempt by Clark to directly delegitimise the creator and the creation. There was a particular passage in the book where Clark comments that one cannot understand Islam without coming to grips with the Holy Quran. If this was his effort to ‘grip’ the Quran, he woefully failed.
In chapter seven, whilst Clark claims to recognise the perfection of the Holy Quran in the eyes of the Muslims, he also draws upon the work of Thomas Carlyle, a 19th century satirical writer and philosopher, who wrote “you know right away I have come to the wrong place” when he offered his own interpretation of the Holy book as “a confused jumble, crude, incondite; endless iterations, long windedness, entanglement; insupportable stupidity in short”. This is the man that Clark considered as an ardent supporter of Muhammad, yet his blasphemy of the creator’s work confounds even the most hardened of transgressors and hypocrites.
A Guardian reporter, Aya Batrawy who describes one man’s journey into the world of Islamic conflict: "I realised that I was in the wrong place when they began to ask me questions on these ISIS forms like 'when you die, who should we call?’” said a 32-year-old European recruit. He thought he was joining a group to fight President Bashar al-Assad and help Syrians, not the so-called Islamic State. He had realised he too had come to the wrong place as did Carlyle. Not to disappoint the main thrust of this conversation, I too felt a little like this European recruit. I thought I was going to review a respectable, impartial book that helps to develop dialogue while attempting to understand Islam from a non-Muslim perspective. What I found was Islam for Dummies to be an apt name for this irrational gibberish.
Once I realised some anomalies in Clark’s work, I started to search for further indiscretions that may have crept in either wittingly or indeed unwittingly; I became confused, irritable and little dismayed because, here I had a book better described as an ‘idiots guide to Islam’ and I found myself to be that idiot.
The approach taken by Clark reminds me of the Four Lyons, a movie released in 2010 which was a British jihadi satire following a group of homegrown awkwardly clumsy jihadi terrorists from Sheffield attempting to blow up Boots the Chemist because they sold contraceptives and tampons; whilst also aspiring to be suicide bombers. The Four Lyons, although were not portrayed as Islamic intellectuals, but I’m pretty sure they were scholarly students of the work, ‘Islam for Dummies’ by Malcolm Clark.
Hasan Mehdi also satirised the ‘jihadi jive’ by writing about another group of wannabe jihadists Yusuf Sarwar and Mohammed Ahmed who had pleaded guilty to terrorism offences, they had ordered a copy of Islam for Dummies as authenticated work to show their knowledge on the subject. To their dismay they quickly realised their book was no more literate than their own psyches.
Clark continues with his bizarrely constructed evidence for authenticity by describing the Satanic Verses as a testimony to historical events, a book which almost led to Salman Rushdie himself losing his head had the Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ruhollah got his hands on him after issuing his fatwa, and calling for the death of Rushdie. So, when you have Islam for Dummies portraying itself as an ‘article of faith’ this can create belligerency amongst ridiculously stupid young men by using this as an idiots road-map to heaven.
Clark has highlighted a conspiracy within Islam by carefully selecting passages from scriptures and then attempting to readdress them with dishonesty, deception and deceit. His attempt creates duplicity by using the work of Carlyle to discredit the creation of Allah and goes beyond even the absurdity of Salmon Rushdie.
This book was written for the ‘dimwit dummies’ who can freely masquerade as someone ready to blow up a bikini beach-hut or create an ill-informed debate amongst a group of smug style liberals conducting politics, predicated on the belief that Islam is not divided by moral difference or rule divergence but rather through inconsistencies, ignorance and misrepresentation of the message.
December 10, 2022
I read this not because I needed to learn about Islam but because I was curious what it said about it. I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised. Overall I found it objective, detailed, and inclusive of the diversity found within Islam. Worth the read for anyone wanting to know more about the religion, both historically and in the present.
March 28, 2016
Alors que les notes relatives à l'ouvrage original montrent une certaine insatisfaction, j'ai pour ma part trouvé ce livre très bien. Sans doute est-ce dû à la patte de Chebel Malek qui visiblement a apporté d'importants éléments, tels qu'un chapitre sur l'Islam en France, qui ne figurait pas dans l'édition américaine originale. Ce livre rappellera ou apprendra à son lecteur quelles sont les valeurs humaines de l'Islam et montre à quel point ces valeurs sont à l'opposé des pratiques des intégristes islamistes.
Bien sûr ce livre n'est pas exempt de défaut et au moins un des auteurs a beaucoup d'espoir pour l'Islam qu'il estime être une solution d'avenir pour la société considérant les défaut des matérialismes capitaliste et communistes.
Néanmoins, il m'a aussi montré que l'Islam est une religion beaucoup plus englobante que le christianisme et je dois avouer que cela m'a semblé presque totalitaire par moment.
Bien sûr ce livre n'est pas exempt de défaut et au moins un des auteurs a beaucoup d'espoir pour l'Islam qu'il estime être une solution d'avenir pour la société considérant les défaut des matérialismes capitaliste et communistes.
Néanmoins, il m'a aussi montré que l'Islam est une religion beaucoup plus englobante que le christianisme et je dois avouer que cela m'a semblé presque totalitaire par moment.
November 6, 2014
Islam for Dummies is an excellent introduction to Islam for someone contemplating joining this faith in North America. It explains the practices and beliefs of this system in a simple, positive manner.
Thus it is of great assistance not only to the beginning Muslim but also to a curious person of good faith who wishes to understand the strong points of Islam which now has over 1.5 billion practitioners on our planet.
Thus it is of great assistance not only to the beginning Muslim but also to a curious person of good faith who wishes to understand the strong points of Islam which now has over 1.5 billion practitioners on our planet.
April 8, 2008
As one who was rather unfamiliar to Islam, I thought this book was a pretty good introduction. As usual, the "For Dummies" format lends itself well to providing a comprehensive overview to the topic. It did seem incongruent, however, that the author was not a Muslim himself. I think they should have selected an author who believes in the religion to be the voice.
Read
January 25, 2010Good information. Unlike many of the religious topic "Dummies" books this was not written by a follower of the particular belief system. He is undoubtedly an "expert" on comparative religion and historical Islam itself but I have to wonder how some topics would have been presented by a "true beliver".
June 16, 2025
Islam for Dummies by Malcolm Clark – reading A Short History of Myth by Fabulous Karen Armstrong also helps understand this and other religions – my note on it is at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... along with other reviews
8 out of 10
The under signed is not religious, hence his skepticism towards Islam and almost any other faith, except perhaps Buddhism, which seems more palatable, and then stoicism would be a favorite, over there we have a philosophy, but we could see that dogma as close to some of the Christian precepts, indeed, it was popular with Christians
Islam has strong connections with Judaism and Christianism, it has been inspired by them, and there is this view that it is in fact a deviation from the former, Jesus, moses are prophets for the Muslims, Virgin Mary is also a saint there (I think I remember that, but I may be wrong, she could be something else, have another status)
Another fantastic read on this subject is Islam – A Short History by the ultimate expert on religion, Karen Armstrong https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/10/... and the rapid rise of this new faith makes for a captivating read, I am hooked, if I must also insist I will not convert, ever
The fundamentalists, Taliban, ayatollahs are distorting the original message, Islam means peace, however, it does not help that there are so many doing cruel, abject acts in the name of that faith – true, you have Christians and others doing equally horrendous things, one that comes to mind is voting for Orange Jesus
One of the fundamental laws of Islam is that ‘There is only one God, and Mohamed is his prophet’, that is the main thing, if I am not blaspheming – by the way, that is another taboo subject, something I hate about this, and other strict faiths, the fact that if you make a cartoon, then they throw an anathema, and often even worse
Allahu Akbar aka God is great, or the greatest, one other very attractive aspect for yours truly is the prayer, not the substance of it alas, I am not redeemed, no epiphany yet – maybe someday, Insha’ Allah – but the very sound, the way they do it has magic, I like it very much, just like I listen to (some) Arabic music
I have had some connections with that world, I have had a pupil, back in university, he was a student in Geology, just like myself, and some decades back I was a virtuoso in Math and Physics, where he was quite ignorant, and then I agreed to be his tutor, he passed the math exam, but it was very close, I could have trouble as well…
Because I gave him my papers to copy, cheat in other words, and then he passed them along, and at the end of the allotted time, I had nothing to give, because they were at the back of the room, so it was a close call…later, the fellow would become a doctor in geology, and then he asked me an exorbitant price for coffee-
Back in the Ceausescu days, you had almost nothing, one had to stay in a queue for bread, and anything, so the dollar shops had what was absent elsewhere, and this pupil of mine, instead of showing gratitude, he used his arithmetic for extortion, nevertheless, I took part in the 1989 revolution and you have a link at the end for that
I also worked with tourists from the Arab world, I remember one particular group from Jordan – let me put a belated spoiler alert in, since I am off the subject – in the same communist period, one showed photos of his wife to my girlfriend, but not to me, because the spouse had some hair showing under the scarf, maybe the hijab
There was another pupil, I was teaching him about hospitality – now he is in the food business, and he is one of the fifty richest in this land, maybe even higher up, I have not checked for the last years – and we took the Jordanians to a beano, then we split, 60% for me and the rest for this would be tycoon, who was not happy with the arrangement
So, we had to talk this through – ‘look, when I started, nobody said anything to me about taking the clients on these side shows, never mind give me any percentage, so you, with your 40%, should be more than grateful’…we were friends though, I was going to say, but I am not so sure about that, especially now
Thomas Mann https://realini.blogspot.com/2021/09/... was one of the gods of literature, one of his characters is appalled to hear around ‘I love you so much, there are no words to express it’, which was more than gratuitous, disingenuous to him, and he explains why, so brilliantly
Words like love, friend, mean much more than we generally give them credit for, so it is the opposite, love implies a feeling that is so deep, solid, generous and so much more that it needs to be used seldom, if at all, today you find that ‘love’ is for all the mundane, ludicrous things, they love this chair, bottle, everything
Returning for a little, the last lines of this note to Islam, some other features that I like would be about munificence, the zakat is one of the five principles, then there would be the trip to Mecca, which is overwhelming for many, interesting that the year zero is 622 for them, and the years are not of the same length
Christians have imposed their time on the rest of the world, we are in 2024, because we use a s reference Jesus, not Mohamed, or Judaism, Buddhism - “Time. What is time? Swiss manufacture it. French hoard it. Italians squander it. Americans say it is money. Hindus say it does not exist. Do you know what I say? I say time is a crook.”
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’
“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
8 out of 10
The under signed is not religious, hence his skepticism towards Islam and almost any other faith, except perhaps Buddhism, which seems more palatable, and then stoicism would be a favorite, over there we have a philosophy, but we could see that dogma as close to some of the Christian precepts, indeed, it was popular with Christians
Islam has strong connections with Judaism and Christianism, it has been inspired by them, and there is this view that it is in fact a deviation from the former, Jesus, moses are prophets for the Muslims, Virgin Mary is also a saint there (I think I remember that, but I may be wrong, she could be something else, have another status)
Another fantastic read on this subject is Islam – A Short History by the ultimate expert on religion, Karen Armstrong https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/10/... and the rapid rise of this new faith makes for a captivating read, I am hooked, if I must also insist I will not convert, ever
The fundamentalists, Taliban, ayatollahs are distorting the original message, Islam means peace, however, it does not help that there are so many doing cruel, abject acts in the name of that faith – true, you have Christians and others doing equally horrendous things, one that comes to mind is voting for Orange Jesus
One of the fundamental laws of Islam is that ‘There is only one God, and Mohamed is his prophet’, that is the main thing, if I am not blaspheming – by the way, that is another taboo subject, something I hate about this, and other strict faiths, the fact that if you make a cartoon, then they throw an anathema, and often even worse
Allahu Akbar aka God is great, or the greatest, one other very attractive aspect for yours truly is the prayer, not the substance of it alas, I am not redeemed, no epiphany yet – maybe someday, Insha’ Allah – but the very sound, the way they do it has magic, I like it very much, just like I listen to (some) Arabic music
I have had some connections with that world, I have had a pupil, back in university, he was a student in Geology, just like myself, and some decades back I was a virtuoso in Math and Physics, where he was quite ignorant, and then I agreed to be his tutor, he passed the math exam, but it was very close, I could have trouble as well…
Because I gave him my papers to copy, cheat in other words, and then he passed them along, and at the end of the allotted time, I had nothing to give, because they were at the back of the room, so it was a close call…later, the fellow would become a doctor in geology, and then he asked me an exorbitant price for coffee-
Back in the Ceausescu days, you had almost nothing, one had to stay in a queue for bread, and anything, so the dollar shops had what was absent elsewhere, and this pupil of mine, instead of showing gratitude, he used his arithmetic for extortion, nevertheless, I took part in the 1989 revolution and you have a link at the end for that
I also worked with tourists from the Arab world, I remember one particular group from Jordan – let me put a belated spoiler alert in, since I am off the subject – in the same communist period, one showed photos of his wife to my girlfriend, but not to me, because the spouse had some hair showing under the scarf, maybe the hijab
There was another pupil, I was teaching him about hospitality – now he is in the food business, and he is one of the fifty richest in this land, maybe even higher up, I have not checked for the last years – and we took the Jordanians to a beano, then we split, 60% for me and the rest for this would be tycoon, who was not happy with the arrangement
So, we had to talk this through – ‘look, when I started, nobody said anything to me about taking the clients on these side shows, never mind give me any percentage, so you, with your 40%, should be more than grateful’…we were friends though, I was going to say, but I am not so sure about that, especially now
Thomas Mann https://realini.blogspot.com/2021/09/... was one of the gods of literature, one of his characters is appalled to hear around ‘I love you so much, there are no words to express it’, which was more than gratuitous, disingenuous to him, and he explains why, so brilliantly
Words like love, friend, mean much more than we generally give them credit for, so it is the opposite, love implies a feeling that is so deep, solid, generous and so much more that it needs to be used seldom, if at all, today you find that ‘love’ is for all the mundane, ludicrous things, they love this chair, bottle, everything
Returning for a little, the last lines of this note to Islam, some other features that I like would be about munificence, the zakat is one of the five principles, then there would be the trip to Mecca, which is overwhelming for many, interesting that the year zero is 622 for them, and the years are not of the same length
Christians have imposed their time on the rest of the world, we are in 2024, because we use a s reference Jesus, not Mohamed, or Judaism, Buddhism - “Time. What is time? Swiss manufacture it. French hoard it. Italians squander it. Americans say it is money. Hindus say it does not exist. Do you know what I say? I say time is a crook.”
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’
“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
June 13, 2012
this was my first foray into the "for dummies" books. it read a bit like a 6th grade text books. it's kind of repetitive and overly simplified but i do believe the book gives a quality introduction to the subject and certainly gives enough information to allow one to better research any of the sub topics should one wish. the book is best in the early chapters when giving the history of Muhammad and the first generations of Muslims. the book is least interesting when it gets into geography and the modern conflicts. i'd give it's 3 and a half stars.
February 22, 2013
First, the author of this book was a college professor and this "dummies" book reads as if it was written for a college course.
Second, the author does have a tendency to repeat himself in several places within the book and sometimes within the same paragraph which can be a little confusing and frustrating at times.
Third, if the reader can get past the first two points, this is a good starting point for someone who would like at least a basic knowledge of Islam and the opportunity to take what they have from this book to continue to pursue a more in depth study into this religion.
Second, the author does have a tendency to repeat himself in several places within the book and sometimes within the same paragraph which can be a little confusing and frustrating at times.
Third, if the reader can get past the first two points, this is a good starting point for someone who would like at least a basic knowledge of Islam and the opportunity to take what they have from this book to continue to pursue a more in depth study into this religion.
November 18, 2016
This is a very helpful guide in gaining a basic understanding of the people, culture, history, and faith of the Moslems. As all "Dummies" books, written in a compact and concise manner that allows one to gain understanding of some very complex and ancient conflicts within and without the world of Islam. A longer review appears at: www.cloquetriverpress.com.
Peace.
Mark
Peace.
Mark
Want to read
December 30, 2009Of course I will be reading this. I love "for dummies" books and whenever there is a topic or subject that interests me, I see if there is a "for dummies" book on it. It is a great book to introduce you to the subject matter.
November 27, 2007
THis book was informative in SOME ways, but I feel that it left out alot by trying to be too politically correct.
Not the book for me, and I wouldn't reccomend it either.
Not the book for me, and I wouldn't reccomend it either.
May 31, 2009
You're a dummie if you believe the sheer glossiness of this treatment. Its hard to imagine that we were reading the same source texts and yet came to such diametrically opposed conclusions.
January 12, 2011
totally glossed over the realities of modern jihad in Islam and the direct sources of it in the Quran
March 14, 2011
Really helped me with my school project and defiantly not for dummies.
Read
July 28, 2011Very informative. Think that it went into just the right amount of detail whilst leaving pointers if you wanted to research further. Very interesting.
Read
January 2, 2012The title might sound a little offensive, but this book is very informative & easily understood.
December 24, 2025
this is going to be very helpful...
September 6, 2023
Warning: the author seems to have some biases against both muslim and transgender people. I would avoid this.
This is not the best organized and reads less like someone who cares about the topic and more like a 6th grade textbook that lacks a lot of deeper information on the core stories and beliefs of the religion I was looking for. The author barely goes over any contents of the Quran itself and straights up tells the reader that it is confusing and may not make much sense without even going into the contents of the book. He goes more into the calligraphy of the book than what is contained in it. I suspect he may not have read the book at all. As someone who was raised Christian and is familiar with the Bible I assumed the Quran would be confusing like the Bible, which is why I went here for an overview instead. I didn't get much of one at all.
I wanted to learn more about this theology, and at first I was glad to see it was written by a source outside of the religion so that I would be taking info from a less biased source, but it results in a speaker who is not passionate about what they are talking about and it makes it very boring and the amount of time in which he seems eager to bring up common dogma or religious extremism when all this book really needs to be is an overview of the core religion and beliefs is suspicious.
On top of that I have to admit I stopped reading at a certain point. It was going over gender roles and inequalities in certain countries with large muslim populations and I was uncomfortable but willing to keep going, but then Malcom Clark refers to trans women as "transvestites" which was a outdated and offensive word even when this book was written. I have no intention to keep reading and wish I hadn't given this horrible man my time when he insults my identity to my face.
This is not the best organized and reads less like someone who cares about the topic and more like a 6th grade textbook that lacks a lot of deeper information on the core stories and beliefs of the religion I was looking for. The author barely goes over any contents of the Quran itself and straights up tells the reader that it is confusing and may not make much sense without even going into the contents of the book. He goes more into the calligraphy of the book than what is contained in it. I suspect he may not have read the book at all. As someone who was raised Christian and is familiar with the Bible I assumed the Quran would be confusing like the Bible, which is why I went here for an overview instead. I didn't get much of one at all.
I wanted to learn more about this theology, and at first I was glad to see it was written by a source outside of the religion so that I would be taking info from a less biased source, but it results in a speaker who is not passionate about what they are talking about and it makes it very boring and the amount of time in which he seems eager to bring up common dogma or religious extremism when all this book really needs to be is an overview of the core religion and beliefs is suspicious.
On top of that I have to admit I stopped reading at a certain point. It was going over gender roles and inequalities in certain countries with large muslim populations and I was uncomfortable but willing to keep going, but then Malcom Clark refers to trans women as "transvestites" which was a outdated and offensive word even when this book was written. I have no intention to keep reading and wish I hadn't given this horrible man my time when he insults my identity to my face.
June 10, 2021
This book was far more interesting and useful than the “for Dummies” moniker might lead one (me!) to expect. I picked it up because I've had M.A.S. Abdel Haleem’s (2005) translation of the Qur’an (https://is.gd/Arp8l2) sitting on my shelf for ages and never got more than a couple of dozen pages into it. I thought some background and context might help me forge ahead.
Clark’s book is helpful in this way, especially Parts 2 and 3 on the life of Muhammed, the Qur’an, Islamic traditions and law, the Five Pillars of Worship, other Islamic rituals and customs, and Muslim ethics.
In addition, Clark introduces you to the other major sources of Islamic law and tradition, the Hadiths (sayings and action of Muhammed) and Sharia (Islamic religious law). He also has good sections on Islamic history, Muslims in the West, the different varieties of Islam, comparisons with the other Abrahamic religions, Muslim contributions to world civilization, noteworthy Muslims of the past and present, and Islam in the news today.
This is a good all-around introduction to Islam and to Muslim life and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about how a big part of the world’s population lives and what they believe.
Clark’s book is helpful in this way, especially Parts 2 and 3 on the life of Muhammed, the Qur’an, Islamic traditions and law, the Five Pillars of Worship, other Islamic rituals and customs, and Muslim ethics.
In addition, Clark introduces you to the other major sources of Islamic law and tradition, the Hadiths (sayings and action of Muhammed) and Sharia (Islamic religious law). He also has good sections on Islamic history, Muslims in the West, the different varieties of Islam, comparisons with the other Abrahamic religions, Muslim contributions to world civilization, noteworthy Muslims of the past and present, and Islam in the news today.
This is a good all-around introduction to Islam and to Muslim life and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about how a big part of the world’s population lives and what they believe.
Read
January 11, 2024You will not find a Muslim who accepts all of this book simply because the book is just telling about all of the different Islamic groups like Shia, Sunni or others
the problem here that for example Sunni (and I think also shia) don't see the Dros group as a Muslim group (they see them as disbelievers) while the book representing them as a Muslim group
because the Dros think they are Muslims, Sunni see some Suffi's extremists(like Alhallaj) as disbelievers (the Suffi's that are regarded as disbelievers are small in their number)
sunni's see shia's as committing a great sin because they hate most of the sahaba(companions of the prophet-peace be upon him)
so,anyone new to Islam will be confused wont know where to go and what is the true group who represents Islam, every group just claims that they are representing the true Islam, so my advice to a new one to Islam to go to an Islamic center begin to study Islam on their hands because in most of the time they will be from the same Islamic group and there wont be any confusion and if he/she does not see them representing the true Islam then they can go to study another group.
this a comment from a Sunni's Muslim.
the problem here that for example Sunni (and I think also shia) don't see the Dros group as a Muslim group (they see them as disbelievers) while the book representing them as a Muslim group
because the Dros think they are Muslims, Sunni see some Suffi's extremists(like Alhallaj) as disbelievers (the Suffi's that are regarded as disbelievers are small in their number)
sunni's see shia's as committing a great sin because they hate most of the sahaba(companions of the prophet-peace be upon him)
so,anyone new to Islam will be confused wont know where to go and what is the true group who represents Islam, every group just claims that they are representing the true Islam, so my advice to a new one to Islam to go to an Islamic center begin to study Islam on their hands because in most of the time they will be from the same Islamic group and there wont be any confusion and if he/she does not see them representing the true Islam then they can go to study another group.
this a comment from a Sunni's Muslim.
February 21, 2021
With the help of this book you can understand how the Muslim people are thinking and why they don't understand the European life. You can understand the main point of the conflicts between Christian and Muslims. The book is full with historical and other information about this religion.
A könyv segítségével megérthető, hogy gondolkodnak a muszlimok, és hogy miért nem értik meg az európai életet. A keresztények és muszlimok közötti konfliktusok forrása is érthetővé válik. A könyv tele van történelmi és más információkkal erről a vallásról.
A könyv segítségével megérthető, hogy gondolkodnak a muszlimok, és hogy miért nem értik meg az európai életet. A keresztények és muszlimok közötti konfliktusok forrása is érthetővé válik. A könyv tele van történelmi és más információkkal erről a vallásról.
June 11, 2021
An okay book but I don’t recommend it if this is going to be the only book you will read on Islam. Many of the author’s writings on certain topics like women, especially, are very conservative like the idea of menustration as impure (red tent anyone???). While misogyny, among other controversial topics, is rampant in some Islamic states like Saudi Arabia, it has no grounds in the Quran. Much of what the Western world knows and sees of Islam is based on Wahhabi Muslims who skew the Quran and hadiths for their misuse, it is not representative of how Islam really is.
September 21, 2024
Good as far as it goes.
I read this book In 2024. It has a lot of useful information. However, only goes up to 2002. Everything that is happened in the last almost 25 years Is not included. Also, the book tends to concentrate on the history of Islam, and doesn't give as much information on the religious beliefs as I was hoping. All in all, it is a good intro to Islam, but if you want to know more, you'll need to find other books in addition to this one. This is a good starting point.
I read this book In 2024. It has a lot of useful information. However, only goes up to 2002. Everything that is happened in the last almost 25 years Is not included. Also, the book tends to concentrate on the history of Islam, and doesn't give as much information on the religious beliefs as I was hoping. All in all, it is a good intro to Islam, but if you want to know more, you'll need to find other books in addition to this one. This is a good starting point.
February 17, 2022
An amazing book and an amazing religion!
Reading about Islam is essential for anyone because it removes so much ignorance. Islam is a wonderful religion and I am so impressed by it. If I wasn’t Christian I would be a Muslim. The salat (five times daily prayer) and Hajj (pilgrimage) sound really wonderful. You learn everything you need to know in this fascinating book, from the history of Islam to Islamic beliefs, rituals, daily practices and ceremonies etc. I highly recommend this book!
Reading about Islam is essential for anyone because it removes so much ignorance. Islam is a wonderful religion and I am so impressed by it. If I wasn’t Christian I would be a Muslim. The salat (five times daily prayer) and Hajj (pilgrimage) sound really wonderful. You learn everything you need to know in this fascinating book, from the history of Islam to Islamic beliefs, rituals, daily practices and ceremonies etc. I highly recommend this book!
March 26, 2024
The book gives more of an introduction to (supposed) Islamic culture than of the faith.
Resultingly, there are many detailed passages describing Islamci habits, schools, disciplines and movements, a long with political developments that are allegedly connected to Islam.
I did learn some new things from this book, but expected it to be more about faith, and not culture.
Resultingly, there are many detailed passages describing Islamci habits, schools, disciplines and movements, a long with political developments that are allegedly connected to Islam.
I did learn some new things from this book, but expected it to be more about faith, and not culture.
September 21, 2021
Interesting book! Good pick for anyone interested in a starting place to study Islam. Coming from a Christian background, it was fascinating to see the differences between the two faiths, not just in beliefs but also in history. Really enjoyed it!
February 26, 2020
Good, but a bit out of date.
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