Related Topics

• Islam

Middle East Quarterly

• Early Zionists and Arabs
  by Judea Pearl
• Jail for Iranian Journalists
  by Arash Sigarchi

Get Involved with the MEF

• Campus Activities
• Donations
• Employment & Internships

Articles by MEF Staff

• Syria Can't Be Flipped
  by Michael Rubin
• The Islamist Role in the 2008 Canadian Elections
  by Raheel Raza

MEF Wires

• Jihad on Trial
  by Andrew C. McCarthy
• The Secret War With Iran
  by Ronen Bergman

Press Releases

• Irfan Yusuf Apologizes Again to Daniel Pipes
  October 1
• Irfan Yusuf Apologizes to Daniel Pipes
  September 17

Most Viewed Articles

1. Assessing English Translations of the Qur'an
2. Review of The Jewel of Medina
3. Beheading in the Name of Islam
4. Prince Charles of Arabia
5. Early Zionists and Arabs

Most Mailed Articles

1. Ending America's Dependence on Middle East Oil
2. Review of The Jewel of Medina
3. Assessing English Translations of the Qur'an
4. Jihad on Trial
5. Obama's Middle East Studies Mentors

DECEMBER 1995 • VOLUME II: NUMBER 4

Subscribe   |    Archive   |    Submit Manuscript   |    Board of Editors   |    Contact Editor   |

An Introduction to Islam

by David Waines
Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1995. 332 pp. $49.50 ($15.50, paper).

Reviewed by Daniel Pipes

Middle East Quarterly
December 1995

Print

Send

RSS

Waines explains in the introduction to his well-written and original survey that he found it "more appropriate to present the Qur'an and the Prophet Muhammad as Muslims might recognize them, rather than as others have described them." This seemingly unexceptional, indeed innocuous, statement actually points to a profound shift in the presentation of Islam to Western audiences. For centuries, European scholars interpreted the faith through their own prism, be it Christian, Enlightened, or Marxist. No longer: Waines's decision to portray Islam in Muslim terms is one nearly all his fellow specialists would agree with.

When it comes to the contemporary period, unfortunately, this outlook degenerates into apologetics, whereby the author makes excuses for fundamentalist Muslims and attacks the West. Indeed, he disdains the term fundamentalist, agreeing with those so labelled that it is used in an "almost indiscriminate" way to lump together groups "judged to be anti-Western."He finds the term "debased and with little meaning." In a bizarre bit of revisionism, Waines deems the un-Islamic Nation of Islam "idiosyncratic," condemns the United States for having a "dominant white caste" and praises the Nation of Islam for giving "a sense of dignity and purpose" to its first converts, then having "rejuvenated the life of many black urban communities." He even states that the NOI "can be accommodated" within radical Muslim thought. The book concludes with a speculation about the demise of the "Western secular model of society" and the "cultural imperative" for an Islamic model to replace it.

Related Topics: Islam

To receive articles regularly by email, join the MEF News mailing list.
To receive the full, printed version of the Middle East Quarterly, please see details about an affordable subscription.

Related Items

• Other items from the December 1995 Middle East Quarterly
• Other items by Daniel Pipes