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Islam 101: History, Beliefs, and Practices
In these twelve captivating lectures, you’ll explore the life of the Prophet of Islam as well as the Quran’s five pillars, which govern the beliefs and behavior of Muslims everywhere. You’ll learn how the incredible legacies of the great Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires still influence the Arab world, Iran, and South Asia. You’ll also look at Islam in other parts of the world. The current Muslim struggle to preserve tradition in an age of globalization and ethnic and religious strife are examined in detail. Professor Ahmed explores all these issues with insight and wisdom, penetrating beyond stereotypes to the realities of Islamic life. Offering a message of hope and reconciliation between the Western world and the Islamic world, he leverages the power of dialogue to build bridges across ethnic, religious, and cultural divides. This lecture series is essential for anyone hoping to learn more about the Islamic world and its people and to understand the world in which we live. Material in this program was adapted from four books by Dr. Ahmed, including Islam Today: A Short Introduction to the Muslim World and Discovering Islam.
4 pages, Audio CD
Published May 18, 2021
11 people want to read
About the author
Akbar Ahmed
49 books49 followersAkbar Salahuddin Ahmed, is a Pakistani-American academic, author, poet, playwright, filmmaker and former diplomat. He currently holds the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies and is Professor of International Relations at the American University in Washington, D.C.Immediately prior, he taught at Princeton University as served as a Visiting Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He also taught at Harvard University and was a Visiting Scholar at the Department of Anthropology. Ahmed was the First Chair of Middle East and Islamic Studies at the US Naval Academy, Annapolis, and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. In 2004 Ahmed was named District of Columbia Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. A former Pakistani High Commissioner to the UK and Ireland, Ahmed was a member of the Civil Service of Pakistan and served as Political Agent in South Waziristan Agency and Commissioner in Baluchistan. He also served as the Iqbal Fellow (Chair of Pakistan Studies) at the University of Cambridge. An anthropologist and scholar of Islam. He completed his MA at Cambridge University and received his PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He has been called "the world's leading authority on contemporary Islam" by the BBC.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 26, 2023
Good introductory material to understand Islam a bit better, particularly for those who have no Muslim friends or haven't read about/experienced much of this world/belief system before. Worthwhile effort - it's the fastest growing religion on Earth and it's estimated 25% of humans may follow this belief system by mid-century.
As a heads up, I have both Muslim buddies and have travelled Muslim countries with great curiosity, so I picked up only limited new information.
What was new for me? I particularly appreciated the discussion around the tribal nature of various customs the Western media wants to connect to Islam - it's eye-opening and creates compassion and some frustration, as it must be tough for many Muslims to be constantly targeted and associated with these violent and otherwise inhumane, unkind --tribal-- acts (e.g. honor killings, rapes, female circumcision, inheritance inequality, etc.).
The other great, new learning was to understand exactly how only Shia Muslims (vs Sunni) see religious leaders as the rightful political leaders. Apparently, it's a sect topic, and doesn't apply to all Muslims - a personal relief for me since my personal belief/observation is all humans are pretty flawed, so giving any one person "divine rights to rule" is a big mistake. We need checks and balances. Glad many Muslims see this topic the same way.
However... I had hoped the author, a professor and an expert in the topic, would go a bit deeper into some complex topics like the position of woman in Islam, with all its intricacies. There was a chapter on it, and the author wanted to showcase how women have always been highly regarded in Islam, but he did it in a limited way. He started by mentioning women used to play an important role in Muslim societies (in fact, the first Muslim was a woman) and have always had many Islam-led rights. Muslim women have had legal rights for inheritance, divorce, conducting business, etc. many centuries before the Western societies adopted any of the same rules (heck, German women had to ask their husband's permission to open a bank account well into the mid-20th century). Obviously a clear wow-moment creating respect.
However, he then continues to discuss the most important role of a woman mainly from the angle of a mother (according to Quran, "the way to heaven is under the feet of a mother"). Besides some historical references to female leadership figures from the early days of Islam (and 1-2 from the 20th century), the author barely discussed any other role a woman could fulfill in a today's society, or what's done (by Muslim men) to extend the role of a woman beyond domestic means.
The author is convinced, today's situation of Muslim women is the sad result of 19th, 20th century Western colonialism that drove Muslim men to protect their women from the prying eyes of the Western soldiers by introducing seclusion and burqas, but makes no remark of the individual agency these same Muslim men had then and still have today to change or revert this societal order, even though we're past this colonial time. The remnants "have nothing to do with Islamic views but only male views and prejudices" - how convenient. Unmarried, widowed women don't inherit in some parts of the Muslim world; women striving for own career create trouble; the main role of a woman in traditional homes is to serve the husband, to an extent there's a regional proverb "husband has become another synonym for a god". These things apparently aren't Islamic at all, but there's also no discussion on how Muslim men address the problem (of getting over these prejudiced tribal attitudes about women).
Poligamy is discussed only from the PoV of the man - it was introduced as a measure during the war, when women lost their husbands and needed more support (similar things have happened in Europe and other parts of the world too, e.g. a man marries their brother's wife to support them after the brother's death). The other noted reason for poligamy was to support reproduction in case "the woman is barren". No discussion around whether the opposite could be true, or if women could ever think of multiple husbands (not unthinkable in other cultures a while ago).
Further, I'm particularly disturbed by the author's notion why women are still secluded from prayer activities: "Women are encouraged to pray at home [in contrast to men who are encouraged to do it at a Mosque or any other clean surface]. It's not a form of discrimination, but conforms to social practice and tradition." Nothing else, no discussion around how this social norm may affect women's role in the society, or whether it's out-dated.
Well, and the book didn't discuss the topic of Islam's tolerance towards other non-Abrahamaic religions or agnosticism at all - as someone who's pretty agnostic and tolerant about people believing in whatever they wish, I would've appreciated some analysis.
In any case, I'm grateful for any attempt by any author to create greater understanding and compassion between humans. I'm particuarly on the lookout for authors able to predict some more compelling questions of readers, and bring about a more nuanced view of the worldviews in the current society.
As a heads up, I have both Muslim buddies and have travelled Muslim countries with great curiosity, so I picked up only limited new information.
What was new for me? I particularly appreciated the discussion around the tribal nature of various customs the Western media wants to connect to Islam - it's eye-opening and creates compassion and some frustration, as it must be tough for many Muslims to be constantly targeted and associated with these violent and otherwise inhumane, unkind --tribal-- acts (e.g. honor killings, rapes, female circumcision, inheritance inequality, etc.).
The other great, new learning was to understand exactly how only Shia Muslims (vs Sunni) see religious leaders as the rightful political leaders. Apparently, it's a sect topic, and doesn't apply to all Muslims - a personal relief for me since my personal belief/observation is all humans are pretty flawed, so giving any one person "divine rights to rule" is a big mistake. We need checks and balances. Glad many Muslims see this topic the same way.
However... I had hoped the author, a professor and an expert in the topic, would go a bit deeper into some complex topics like the position of woman in Islam, with all its intricacies. There was a chapter on it, and the author wanted to showcase how women have always been highly regarded in Islam, but he did it in a limited way. He started by mentioning women used to play an important role in Muslim societies (in fact, the first Muslim was a woman) and have always had many Islam-led rights. Muslim women have had legal rights for inheritance, divorce, conducting business, etc. many centuries before the Western societies adopted any of the same rules (heck, German women had to ask their husband's permission to open a bank account well into the mid-20th century). Obviously a clear wow-moment creating respect.
However, he then continues to discuss the most important role of a woman mainly from the angle of a mother (according to Quran, "the way to heaven is under the feet of a mother"). Besides some historical references to female leadership figures from the early days of Islam (and 1-2 from the 20th century), the author barely discussed any other role a woman could fulfill in a today's society, or what's done (by Muslim men) to extend the role of a woman beyond domestic means.
The author is convinced, today's situation of Muslim women is the sad result of 19th, 20th century Western colonialism that drove Muslim men to protect their women from the prying eyes of the Western soldiers by introducing seclusion and burqas, but makes no remark of the individual agency these same Muslim men had then and still have today to change or revert this societal order, even though we're past this colonial time. The remnants "have nothing to do with Islamic views but only male views and prejudices" - how convenient. Unmarried, widowed women don't inherit in some parts of the Muslim world; women striving for own career create trouble; the main role of a woman in traditional homes is to serve the husband, to an extent there's a regional proverb "husband has become another synonym for a god". These things apparently aren't Islamic at all, but there's also no discussion on how Muslim men address the problem (of getting over these prejudiced tribal attitudes about women).
Poligamy is discussed only from the PoV of the man - it was introduced as a measure during the war, when women lost their husbands and needed more support (similar things have happened in Europe and other parts of the world too, e.g. a man marries their brother's wife to support them after the brother's death). The other noted reason for poligamy was to support reproduction in case "the woman is barren". No discussion around whether the opposite could be true, or if women could ever think of multiple husbands (not unthinkable in other cultures a while ago).
Further, I'm particularly disturbed by the author's notion why women are still secluded from prayer activities: "Women are encouraged to pray at home [in contrast to men who are encouraged to do it at a Mosque or any other clean surface]. It's not a form of discrimination, but conforms to social practice and tradition." Nothing else, no discussion around how this social norm may affect women's role in the society, or whether it's out-dated.
Well, and the book didn't discuss the topic of Islam's tolerance towards other non-Abrahamaic religions or agnosticism at all - as someone who's pretty agnostic and tolerant about people believing in whatever they wish, I would've appreciated some analysis.
In any case, I'm grateful for any attempt by any author to create greater understanding and compassion between humans. I'm particuarly on the lookout for authors able to predict some more compelling questions of readers, and bring about a more nuanced view of the worldviews in the current society.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 5, 2022
Fascinating and level-appropriate. I’m a relative beginner on the subject, and I didn’t feel overwhelmed with the amount of information—despite that it covered a LOT. The rights of women, common Western misunderstandings, historical empires, the five pillars of Islam and their significance, etc. I’d like to find more books like this!
November 2, 2023
This book offers a detailed overview of the Islam religion, it’s history, it’s struggles and the current world challenges. The book is a helpful aid of one religion, in the quest to understand religious history of many faiths and the religious dynamics of the current world.
February 5, 2023
An important work for both the western world and Muslim world to understand each other.
Update: The statement that the Quran hates Judaism and not Jews because as long as Jews convert to Islam, Islam will take them in with open arms proved to be sugarcoating the consistent anti-semitic rhetoric throughout the Quran as I read the Quran. Ah well, at least the Quran states not to physically attack non-believers unless they attack first. Ah well
Update: The statement that the Quran hates Judaism and not Jews because as long as Jews convert to Islam, Islam will take them in with open arms proved to be sugarcoating the consistent anti-semitic rhetoric throughout the Quran as I read the Quran. Ah well, at least the Quran states not to physically attack non-believers unless they attack first. Ah well
December 28, 2025
Good read! One point I found particularly interesting is the development of a Europeanized Christianity after the fall of Constantinople and the shift of the base of Christianity to Rome.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews