A New Introduction to Islam

by Daniel W. Brown, Daniel Brown

Written in an engaging style, this text introduces students not just to what Muslims believe and practise, but also to the history and development of Islamic studies as a discipline.

Genres: Islam, Nonfiction, Religion, Middle East, History, School, Textbooks

269 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 2003

About the author

Daniel Brown is the author of Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought (Cambridge) and A New Introduction to Islam (Wiley-Blackwell). He was awarded his doctorate in Islamic Studies from the University of Chicago, has taught at Mount Holyoke College and Smith College and has been a visiting scholar at the Islamic University in Islamabad, the Institute of Islamic Culture in Lahore, Cairo University and Oxford University. His interests include modern Muslim intellectual history, Hadith studies, and Muslim-Christian relations. He directs the Institute for the Study of Religion in the Middle East.

Reviews

[Michael Kenan Baldwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m privileged to know Dan Brown (not to be confused with the infamous Dan Brown of Da Vinci Code fame), who now lives and serves in Istanbul, Turkey. This brilliant textbook on Islam from Wiley-Blackwell is now in its 3rd edition and it’s easy to see why. It is superbly informative on an incredibly diverse range of topics, from the historical background of Islam in the Byzantine and Sassanid Empires, to the origins of the prophet, the Qur’an, the tradition, Islamic law and of the empire/caliphate, and then right through every period of history to modern and postmodern interpretations of Islam. The approach is to integrate the rich Islamic tradition with the venerable tradition of Western critical scholarship, while also letting each one critique the other.
It’s written really well, too, which just makes it a delight to read. The annotated bibliographies at the end of each chapter demonstrate how incredibly well read Brown is. This should be your go-to introductory book on all things Islam. The only major thing missing from what I could see was any discussion of folk Islam, which is ubiquitous and I’d argue even more locally significant than Sufism.

[Sham Al-Ghazali · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mainly read this to understand concepts of Ijtihad and Shariah and it was really helpful.

[Victoria]

Twas pretty good good

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

After abortive attempts at reading other introductions to Islam (the Oxford VSI, Carole Hillebrand, Huston Smith), this one is by far the best due to its fluidly chronological historical-critical approach (very few introductory level texts mention the revisionist historiographical issues around Early Islam and the Qur'an), good sporadic use of anecdotes to illustrate points, and a non-essentialist, non-orientalist account of the ins and outs of the subject (neither ignorantly Islamophobic nor condescendingly, apologetically Islamophilic - modern scholarship tends to be the latter). I only wish it covered eschatology a bit more.

[Sieglinde · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this as a textbook for a college level class on Islam. It seems to be a fair depiction of Islam and is an interesting read for those who like to read academic non-fiction. It covers pre-Islamic culture through the modern era.

[Tynan Brooks]

It's alright. Fairly summary, more invested in the history than contemporary belief or practice, which is to its detriment for me. I didn't learn much that wasn't in my undergrad course on the subject, but a useful refresher nonetheless.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good intro to Islam for someone wanting to dip their foot in the pond.

Brown is coming from a Christian background, having been raised as a missionary kid (MK) in Pakistan, so a Muslim would find this book hostile to their faith.

[Aoife · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good introduction book on the roots and basics of Islam. I found it interesting, relevant and captivating.

[Ahmed Yasser · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written, factually correct introduction to Islamic societies' history with a pinch of contemporary issues analysis.

[Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the best book I've read on Islam to this point (though I can't say I've read many).

[Nolan Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive in scope and deeply researched. I can't imagine a much better place to begin for the academic study of Islam!

[Ellie Brayne-Whyatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful when I was studying a one year course in Islamic studies. I would highly recommend to any undergrad student who is doing a similar topic. However, if you want more information on Islamic Law or deeper details around Theology and practices it is better to read around more as this book, as it says, is an introduction. However, it is still written in an easy-to-grasp manner, making it an easy and pleasant read.

[Haven Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the text books to my Islam class. I thought the book was very interesting and informative. I only wish it would have included more information about women in Islam as that's a subject of particular interest to me. Over all, I liked this book. I feel that it goes a long way to clear up a lot of misconceptions commonly found in Islam.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Overview of Islam. At times the history sections I found a bit dense and difficult to read. The Arabic font on my Kindle didn't format quite right.

However, Brown has some good insights, and there are excellent and thorough recommendations for further reading.

[Neil White · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book attempts to provide an examination of the history, thought and development of Islam. There is a lot of information the book has to cover, but as an outsider I felt it did a good job attempting to describe and explain the diversity of Islam.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great overview. Well written, easy to read. It's like an Islam 101 course!

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will keep this on my shelf for reference - very easy to read.