Customer Reviews

Constructing Bangladesh: Religion, Ethnicity, and Language in an Islamic Nation (Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks)

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Sufia Uddin writes a book that in many regards is very readable, but obviously slanted more towards an academic, than a popular audience. Nonetheless the attentive reader will find this a substantive, informative but very targeted work. This is not a general history, but a review of the Islamic identity of Bangladesh, and a thesis about the regional variation of the Islamic faith. Uddin's intent is to identify the roots of Bangladesh's Islamic culture and identity, and finds the differences primarily in its Bengali language and cultural views of the Muslim religion. Convincingly Uddin argues that there is no monolithic Muslim culture, but that Islam everywhere is filtered the local culture, language, and custom. If you wish to understand Bangladesh, no doubt you will find this a valuable book.