Understanding Islam: A Listener's Guide

by Huston Smith

Join a legendary authority for comparative religions on this timely listener's guide to the most "persistently misunderstood religion in the world." On Understanding Islam, Huston Smith invites you to learn about Islam's founding lineage, its inspiration in Greek philosophy, and its common roots with both Judaism and Christianity. Topics The message of the prophet Mohammed The why it is perceived as a tool for violence Women under the surprising truth, and more.

Genres: Religion, Islam

Audio CD

First published January 1, 1902

About the author

Smith was born in Suzhou, China to Methodist missionaries and spent his first 17 years there. He taught at the Universities of Colorado and Denver from 1944–1947, moving to Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri for the next ten years, and then Professor of Philosophy at MIT from 1958–1973. While at MIT he participated in some of the experiments with entheogens that professor Timothy Leary conducted at Harvard University. He then moved to Syracuse University where he was Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion and Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Philosophy until his retirement in 1983 and current emeritus status. He now lives in the Berkeley, CA area where he is Visiting Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

During his career, Smith not only studied, but practiced Vedanta Hinduism, Zen Buddhism (studying under Goto Zuigan), and Sufism for over ten years each. He is a notable autodidact.

As a young man, Smith, of his own volition, after suddenly turning to mysticism, set out to meet with then-famous author Gerald Heard. Heard responded to Smith's letter, invited him to his Trabuco College (later donated as the Ramakrishna Monastery) in Southern California, and then sent him off to meet the legendary Aldous Huxley. So began Smith's experimentation with meditation, and association with the Vedanta Society in Saint Louis under the auspices of Swami Satprakashananda of the Ramakrishna order.

Via the connection with Heard and Huxley, Smith eventually experimented with Timothy Leary and others at the Center for Personality Research, of which Leary was Research Professor. The experience and history of the era are captured somewhat in Smith's book Cleansing the Doors of Perception. In this period, Smith joined in on the Harvard Project as well, an attempt to raise spiritual awareness through entheogenic plants.

He has been a friend of the XIVth Dalai Lama for more than forty years, and met and talked to some of the great figures of the century, from Eleanor Roosevelt to Thomas Merton.

He developed an interest in the Traditionalist School formulated by Rene Guenon and Ananda Coomaraswamy. This interest has become a continuing thread in all his writings.

In 1996, Bill Moyers devoted a 5-part PBS special to Smith's life and work, "The Wisdom of Faith with Huston Smith." Smith has produced three series for public television: "The Religions of Man," "The Search for America," and (with Arthur Compton) "Science and Human Responsibility." His films on Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Sufism have all won awards at international film festivals.

His latest DVD release is The Roots of Fundamentalism - A Conversation with Huston Smith and Phil Cousineau.

Reviews

[David Teachout · Rating 1 out of 5]

First, this has nothing to do with "understanding" Islam. Rather, this reads like a well-done entry out of an encyclopedia. That is, once you get past the rather absurd prelude.

In that initial point, Smith seems to jettison all manner of logic and proper argumentation to attempt addressing what he claims are improper stereotypes of Islam. However, instead of actually addressing those stereotypes to remove them, he only succeeds in making the case that they do in fact exist for a reason.

One: Islam is violent. Smith's argument against this is to point out that other religions have as great or greater history of violence. Let's move beyond that he's inadvertently making a case against religion itself and go to the issue of attempting to claim that a modern stereotype is wrong because other ideologies in history are similar. I started laughing before I then realized he was serious.

Two: Islam has a string of wives. Smith's argument is to point out not that there aren't many wives but that they must be taken care of and besides, he personally knows several modern women who don't have a problem with it. Again, Smith seems to have mistaken being an apologist for offering an argument.

Then what follows is the encyclopedia entry, with Smith taking at face value that the Koran is a legitimate historical document that must always tell the truth and promptly ignoring the Hadith and anything else Islam takes as offering theological import. If you're looking for a short synopsis of Islam so you don't have to read the "idiot's guide" then by all means this is helpful. If you're looking to actually understand anything about it, go almost anywhere but here.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of basic tenants of Islam. Interesting how we pick and choose our foundational scriptures.

[Mark Stapel · Rating 3 out of 5]

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[justbeingarlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

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