A Brief Guide to Islam: Faith, Religion, Politics

by Paul Grieve

Differences and conflicts make for sensational headlines, but A Brief Guide to Islam starts with the similarities between the major Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Only then can the differences be understood. By exploring the beliefs, history and politics of the ordinary people of Muslim countries, Paul Grieve offers a fully comprehensive survey that combines authoritative analysis with carefully chosen primary sources. The result is a user-friendly book that challenges cliché and stereotype in areas such as art, women, banking, war, Malcolm X, and the dos and don'ts of visiting a Muslim country. It also exposes the big issues behind the headlines: can Islam support true democracy? Is true democracy what the West really wants for the Middle East, or are we merely seeking a cover of legitimacy for a policy of 'might is right'? Paul Grieve is an unbeliever; he is not a born-again Muslim, a proselytizer or a frustrated desert romantic. His aim is simply to inform. This is the ideal summary for the reader looking for a broad overview of the political and religious contentions that are part of our everyday lives.

Genres: Religion, History, Nonfiction, Politics, Islam

416 pages, Paperback

First published March 26, 2006

Reviews

[Athena Dykman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written and extremely comprehensive look at the history of Islam worldwide, from beginnings to modern day. What I particularly loved about it was, despite the sheer density of information, it was written in a way that made it easy to read, and was entirely unbiased. It addresses several of the most important questions that people seem to have, as well as some fascinating historical references I'd never been taught in school.
I recommend this if you're a fan of history, if not religion or politics. Fascinating read.

[Melissa Frese · Rating 2 out of 5]

Learned alot but only four pages about Women in Islam did not seem like enough.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book about the basic principles of the religion of Islam. I read it because I wanted to understand more about this often maligned religion, since it features so prominently in global geopolitics. As it says “on the tin”, it goes through the main things that Muslims believe and how these beliefs have interacted with the world at large in the historical and political context. Its most surprising content is probably the doctrinal variations in different denominations of Islam. However, I expected an unbiased statement of facts, like a book-length encyclopaedia entry; instead, what I got was a long, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic and anti-West diatribe about how Muslims have been persecuted throughout history and that Islam is the panacea that will solve all the problems of the world. Yet if author Grieve is really such a fan, you’d think that he would address the West’s main criticisms of Islam with enthusiasm, and attempt to change readers’ minds, but instead he mentions several of the most controversial issues, such as oil cartels, forever wars in the Middle East, terrorist attacks, and the oppression of women and homosexuals, without any real discussion or analysis. He follows the introduction of Islam into the United States from the African slaves up to the present day, rightly condemning the Atlantic slave trade, but conveniently forgetting the Arab slave trade, that is well-documented and still going on openly in some places even today. He also neglects to mention the Danish cartoon controversy, just one year before this book was published. It’s all wrapped up with a list of notable historical figures that he presents like a roll-call of saints, with few having any faults.

This was all very surprising after reading the back cover blurb, which claims the writer is an “unbeliever”, whose “aim is to inform”. Maybe it’s impossible to be one hundred per cent objective, but a proper, informative book would at least attempt an impartial, fair-minded presentation and allow readers to make up their own minds. Grieve has not succeeded at all in this task. His best achievement in this book is probably raising awareness of the way Muslims think about non-Muslim societies in comparison with their own. Perhaps it’s a way to begin a dialogue that will improve relations?

If you want an unbiased view, I would suggest a more scholarly volume such as Merriam-Webster’s Encyclopedia of World Religions.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating read. I had initially read this book in college for a religion class, and I decided to re-read in a more focused way-the class was a moderate introduction to all the major religions of the world, of which Islam was a small portion.

I really enjoyed this read-it was preachy, or attempting to make any kind of case for the legitimacy of Islam-it simply presented facts in a clear way. The early chapters I found especially illuminating, as the book continued, it wandered into topics that I felt were too broad for the books purpose, and as a result, topics were so superficially covered that it was difficult to really digest the information provided.

The prose was clear, the book was not too emotional, and it did not feel like a textbook-this instead felt like a book for the masses to gain a little information about a largely misunderstood religion, as far the West is concerned.

I would recommend this book to any who are interested in learning about the facts of Islam, or those who have information from the media about what Islam as a religion is all about. Everybody could benefit to broaden their horizons with this book.

[Krisdeep Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overview and brief introduction to Islam and the politics of the Islamic diaspora.

[Craig Strachan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the book because I wanted to find out more about Islam, and this is an excellent book for that. There is a lot of information about belief, history, the schools, culture, architecture, food and politics.

However there are sections (in particular towards the beginning) whereby it is very biased towards Islam and against Christianity and Judaism. He is almost trying to show why Islam is better then Christianity and Judaism, presenting a very one-sided view of many historical events.

But if you can ignore the bias, having read the book I feel I have a much better understanding and I would recommend the book to anybody wanting to find out more about Islam.

[Aida · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book hoping to find some enlightenment or justice given to my misunderstood religion. I ended up hating it for unable to show what it really is in this religion. The author just managed to get his facts right on the basic procedures and principles of Islam and also on the relationship between Israel and Palestine. The others... such a devastating read!

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit heavy handed in his descriptions of the post-colonial legacy. There are other places struggling with their governments that aren't predominantly muslim. Not a bad introduction, though I would have appreciated a bit more philosophy and history and a bit less modern politics.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent overview of how the religion, culture and the politics all intertwine.

[Foxglove · Rating 2 out of 5]

Simplistic and badly written, without anything resembling a point or a source of information besides his own biased and colonialist white agnostic looking at brown people view.